Amazon workers abandon their jobs to demand better wages and conditions

( Business) — A coalition of Amazon employees walked out of their jobs at an air cargo facility in San Bernardino, California, on Monday demanding better wages and working conditions, the latest sign that worker organizing efforts continue to spread across the country. throughout the tech giant’s vast logistics and retail network.

The group of workers that organized the walkout calls itself the Inland Empire Amazon Workers United, and claimed in online posts that more than 150 employees participated in their coordinated walkout on Monday. Amazon, however, disputes this figure and says that 74 workers were part of the strike. In any case, the protesters represented a tiny fraction of the 1,500 employees at Amazon’s airline facility, known as KSBD.

In a statement Posted online by the workers’ group, organizers said they had gathered more than 800 signatures for a petition calling for the facility’s base wage to be raised to $22 an hour from the current $17. The workers’ organization cited rising rents and the cost of living in the area in the statement.

Employees also said “unsafe heat conditions” continue to exist in many work areas, noting that temperatures reached 95 degrees Fahrenheit or higher at the San Bernardino cargo airport on two dozen days last month.

“Working in the heat feels like you’re suffocating,” said a worker identified as Melissa Ojeda in the statement released by the group. “You have to take breaks and you can overheat very easily. They don’t make it easy to take breaks for your body to cool down,” she said.

Amazon, “proud” of the working conditions it grants

Amazon spokesman Paul Flaningan said in a statement provided to Business that the company is “proud to provide full-time employees at our San Bernardino air hub and throughout the region with a minimum starting wage of $17 per hour”. Flaningan added that full-time employees can earn up to $19.25 an hour and also receive “industry-leading benefits, including healthcare from day one, 401(k) with 50% company match and up to 20 weeks of paid parental leave.

“Although there are many established ways to ensure that we listen to the opinions of our employees within our company, we also respect their right to make their opinions known outside,” the statement added.

“While we are always listening and looking for ways to improve, we continue to be proud of the competitive compensation, comprehensive benefits and attractive and safe work experience that we offer our teams in the region,” he adds.

The walkout follows unionization efforts at other Amazon facilities. Earlier this year, workers at a Staten Island, New York, warehouse voted to form the first American union in Amazon history. (Amazon workers have also pushed to unionize at a Bessemer, Alabama, facility and an Amazon Fresh location in Seattle.)

Ongoing organizing efforts inside Amazon continue to draw support from labor advocates and progressive politicians across the country, including Sen. Bernie Sanders, who has long been a strong critic of the company.

“I stand in solidarity with the Amazon employees in San Bernardino, California who have walked off the job today to protest low wages and unsafe working conditions,” Sanders tweeted Monday night. He also touched on Amazon CEO Andy Jassy’s total compensation package, awarded in 2021, adding: “If Amazon can afford to pay their CEO $214 million last year they can afford to give their workers a $214 million raise.” 5 an hour and a safe workplace.”