Anaheim, CA – El 22 de diciembre, alrededor de las 4 de la mañana, cerca de 40 trabajadores de Amazon, algunos de los cuales también son miembros de la Hermandad Internacional de Camioneros (Teamsters) del Local 396, formaron una línea de piquetes frente a un almacén de Amazon en Anaheim. Llevaban carteles de protesta que decían “Huelga por prácticas laborales injustas de Amazon” y marcharon frente a la entrada del almacén. Los gerentes vigilaron de cerca la línea de piquetes, desalentando a los conductores que salían de hablar con los piqueteros

Esta línea de piquetes es parte de la huelga más grande contra Amazon en la historia de los Estados Unidos y está ocurriendo en un momento crucial del período de mayor actividad comercial del año.

Rubie Mosqueda, conductora de reparto de Amazon de la Ciudad de Industry, explicó: “ Hay una huelga nacional en marcha porque varios almacenes han alcanzado la mayoría para sindicarse y Amazon sigue negándose a sentarse a la mesa. Queremos discutir mejores salarios, seguridad laboral y la negociación del contrato. ¡Estamos en huelga para mostrarle a Amazon que estamos unidos como sindicato!”.

El sindicato Amazon Labor Union, afiliado a los Teamsters, quiere expandirse y llevarlo a nuevos almacenes como el de Amazon en Anaheim. Mientras los piqueteros hablaban con los conductores sobre las condiciones de trabajo y la lucha por un contrato, Mosqueda dijo: “Hemos extendido la línea de piquetes para venir a apoyar a otros locales. Queremos ver cómo se sienten los conductores acerca de traer el sindicato aquí. Primero plantamos las semillas, luego hacemos el piquete, conseguimos contactos, ¡y después nos comunicamos y organizamos!”

Los cánticos llenaron la calle mientras los piqueteros gritaban: “¿Qué queremos? ¡Un contrato! ¿Cuándo lo queremos? ¡Ahora!”. Los vehículos que pasaban tocaban el claxon en apoyo de la huelga.

La gerencia de Amazon llamó al Departamento de Policía de Anaheim, y dos patrullas se detuvieron, amenazando con multar a la gente por caminar mientras el semáforo estaba en rojo. Los piqueteros respondieron a la gerencia con el canto: “¡Romper sindicatos es repugnante!”

Los piqueteros planearon regresar a la Ciudad de Industry el 23 de diciembre y mantener la huelga con fuerza.

#AnaheimCA #CA #Labor #Teamsters #ALU #Amazon #Strike #Huelga

Anaheim, CA – On December 22, at around 4 a.m., nearly 40 Amazon workers, some of whom are also members of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters from Local 396, picketed in front of an Amazon warehouse in Anaheim. They carried signs stating, “Amazon unfair labor practices strike” and marched in front of the warehouse entrance. Managers watched the picket line closely, discouraging outgoing drivers from speaking to picketers.

This picket line is part of the largest Amazon strike in U.S. history and is happening at the crux of the busiest shopping time of the year.

Rubie Mosqueda, Amazon delivery driver from the City of Industry, explained, “There is a nationwide strike happening because a number of warehouses have reached a majority to unionize, and Amazon is still refusing to come to the table. We want to discuss better pay, job security and contract negotiation. We are striking to show Amazon that we are standing together as a union!”

The Teamster-affiliated Amazon Labor Union wants to expand and bring it to new warehouses like the Anaheim Amazon warehouse. As picketers talked to drivers about working conditions and the fight for a contract, Mosqueda said, “We’ve extended the picket line to come support other locals. We want to see how drivers are feeling about bringing the union here. First, we plant the seeds, then picket, get contacts, then we reach out and organize!”

Chants filled the street as picketers shouted, “What do we want? Contract! When do we want it? Now!” Passing cars honked in support of the strike.

Amazon management called the Anaheim Police Department, and two patrol cars pulled over, threatening to ticket people for walking while the street light is red. Picketers chanted back at management, “Union busting is disgusting!”

Picketers planned to return to the City of Industry on December 23 and keep the strike going strong.

#AnaheimCA #CA #Labor #Teamsters #Amazon #Strike

Caledonia, MI - For 48 straight hours, from December 19 to 21, members of Teamsters Local 406 picketed outside the Amazon GRR1 Fulfillment Center in solidarity with the Amazon Teamsters on strike nationwide. Braving snow and temperatures as low as 23 °F, the trade unionists stayed outside passing out literature, leading chants and talking with community members from Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Caledonia. 

During the 48 hours outside, many drivers from Amazon and the nearby Coca-Cola facility honked their horns and raised their fists in support. “There seems to be a lot of interest from the drivers,” one activist on the picket-line stated. “Amazon likes to hire them out as independent contractors. Drivers are more likely to get screwed over when they don’t have legal protection.”

The nationwide strike began because of Amazon’s refusal to bargain with workers.

At Amazon facilities, supervisors play into anti-union propaganda during captive audience meetings and by impersonating union reps, one activist at the GRR1 facility told the picketers early Friday morning. Events from the last few days have corroborated these claims. Videos from pickets nationwide have shown such repressive tactics as police arresting striking workers, police violently pushing back trade unionists to allow scabs to cross the picket, and – in one instance – Amazon supervisors turning on an outdoor wastewater release near picketers at the Queens, New York DB4K facility during the afternoon of the December 21.

Eduardo Montiel, the chair of the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression who was formerly employed at the Amazon GRR1 plant, stated, “The bosses have shown brutality in the way they treat these picketing workers and have even arrested a few – all for using their rights to protest work conditions.”

At the GRR1 facility, the picketers had to park far away from the line or risk having their cars towed, making it difficult to warm up or rest during the cold evenings. During the first day of picketing, one supervisor allegedly confronted a reporter for parking in the massive lot near the picket line. 

Local activists from Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids (PSGR) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization stood alongside the Teamsters at GRR1. When asked about the importance of showing up for workers, Emerson Wolfe the chair of PSGR stated, ”With so many of our tax dollars funding the U.S. war machine, we know how important it is to join the fight for workers’ rights. Jeff Bezos is profiting off the surveillance and targeting of Palestinian families, and over a million Amazon workers are forced to be complicit in the genocide. A strong, unionized workforce would put bargaining power in the hands of workers and allow regular people the right to stand up against the greed and depravity of billionaires.”

As of Christmas day, the strike has expanded into Staten Island and Atlanta Amazon facilities. 

Starbucks workers have also begun their own strike – and Teamster delivery drivers to the coffee chain are, by contract, not allowed to cross the picket line. 

#CaledoniaMI #Teamster #Amazon #AmazonStrike #Strike #Labor #UnionPower #GrandRapidsMI #GrandRapids

Early in the morning, Teamsters from Local 455 and Local 17 showed up outside DEN3 to pass flyers to workers coming in and out of the warehouse. Picketers carried signs that demanded Amazon recognize the union and stop breaking the law through unfair labor practices.

The Teamsters in California, New York and Atlanta have been in the process of forming a union, but Amazon has refused to recognize their union and negotiate with the workers for a collective bargaining agreement. The actions happening now are part of a push throughout the country demanding that Amazon recognize their union and come to the bargaining table.

Teamsters President Sean O’Brien has announced that warehouse workers and drivers who are in the places where a majority of workers have signed cards to form a union will be on strike until an agreement is met. O’Brien called for Teamsters locals across the country to show solidarity and to try to get Amazon involved.

Both Amazon and the mainstream media have been critical of the strike because of the effects it will have on holiday shopping. However, the Teamsters union has repeatedly clarified that this would not be an issue if Amazon came to the bargaining table. Amazon has also claimed that this strike is not happening or is not causing any delays. At the same time, they have used police to attempt to force strikers off Amazon property. Amazon has also been hiring scabs across the country and demanding workers in non-union shops work upwards of 70 or 80 hours in the next few days.

Two women onsite at the pickets said that they were told they would be fired if they did not work the three 16-hour shifts they were scheduled for Christmas. Amazon has been able to become the company that it is today due to the labor of its large workforce, yet many of its workers say they can’t afford homes, food, cars or insurance while putting their body on the line every day at work.

The battle at Amazon could have ramifications for other companies that use similar models of low-wage workers and high profits. Amazon has run a robust and expensive union busting operation across its company and the Teamsters union hopes that these actions can signal an uptick in worker power and organization at Amazon.

Many community groups as well as other unions, such as SEIU, IBEW, SMART, UA, SBWU and AFL-CIO, came out to show their support for the Teamsters effort to organize at Amazon.

#ThorntonCO #DenverCO #Teamsters #Amazon #AmazonStrike #Strike #Labor #UnionPower

Dallas, TX – Teamsters Locals 745 and 767 held solidarity pickets for Amazon workers in support of the national strike demanding the shipping giant recognize the right to unionize and come to the table to negotiate a contract for better working conditions. Across the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex, there were multiple solidarity pickets on Thursday, December 19 and Friday, December 20.

On Thursday, pickets were held at the DAL3 (Chalk Hill), FTW6 (Grapevine), FTW2 (Coppell) and FTW5 (Forney) Amazon fulfillment centers. Picketers showed up in shifts to hold a steady line while passing drivers from UPS, Amazon, and its contractors honked their horns and stopped outside the warehouse in solidarity.

At the end of the day, spirits were high as Friday’s pickets included five different north Texas locations from Forney to Fort Worth, adding IAH1 (Southlink) and AFW1 (NE Loop) to the list of solidarity picket locations. Food and hand warmers were brought out as the temperatures dropped in the evening and the pickets continued through the night.

At the picket Amazon drivers and Teamsters from UPS -who had shown up in support – were comparing their trucks, pointing out that to the Amazon workers that air conditioning was not a luxury during Texas summers. For these workers, the strike isn’t a tool for luxuries but for basic amenities to survive the job.

#DallasTX #TX #Labor #Teamsters #Amazon #Strike

On December 20, Amazon Teamsters across the country were on day two of major strikes at Amazon facilities in New York, California, Illinois and Atlanta. Other Teamster locals in Milwaukee, Dallas and Des Moines, as well as many places, were conducting solidarity ULP (unfair labor practice) pickets.

This strike is occurring during what is called “peak season” which is the period around the holidays when the flow of packages is elevated by extreme amounts due to holiday shopping. This Amazon strike marks the largest ever against the company to date.

Over the past two years, Amazon warehouse workers and drivers have led 25 different groups of their co-workers at ten facilities across the country in attempts to form a union with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters. This rapid organizing effort has been helped along the way by a National Labor Relations Board ruling acknowledging these workers as employees of Amazon rather than sub-contractors who would not be eligible to form a union under the National labor Relations Act. 

Amazon refused to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with the drivers and workers. At the same time as refusing to bargain with the workers, Amazon recorded nearly $15 billion of profit in the last quarter alone. The Teamsters union had given Amazon until December 15 to come to the table and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement.

When Amazon did not meet that deadline, the Teamsters went on strike against the biggest company in the world. Members in facilities representing over 10,000 Amazon workers across the country went on strike against the company during the busiest time of the year, holiday rush. Their strike was to demand better pay, better working conditions, benefits and, most importantly for Amazon, to recognize their union, which would mean that Amazon would become legally required to bargain with the newly certified union. 

The Teamsters have also promised to extend their strike to hurt Amazon's business even further, if their demands aren't met. Amazon continues to refuse to meet with the union and it remains to be seen if they will do so as pressure builds during the end of the holidays. The Teamsters at Amazon are taking on a Goliath and say they will not go away until their demands are met.

#Amazon #AmazonTeamsters #Strike

Thornton, CO – Teamsters Local 455, which represents around 10,000 workers in the Denver area, organized their members to participate in a solidarity picket on December 19 in support of workers at Amazon who are organizing to start a union.

The picket started around 4 a.m., just as overnight workers were leaving and morning shift was coming in. Later in the morning, around 9 a.m., roughly 50 community and labor supporters came out to the Amazon DEN3 fulfilment center and picketed to show their support. They held signs reading “Amazon is unfair” and “TANNC Amazon ULP strike.” The latter slogan refers to the Teamsters Amazon National Negotiating Committee, the leading body behind the unfair labor practice strike taking place across the country at Amazon.

The picket attracted activists from across the state of Colorado, including tenant organizers, Starbucks workers, and Teamsters.

“You should be able to work and be able to afford groceries and these workers are struggling. That’s not fair,” stated Alejandra Beatty, president of the Boulder Labor Council.

Amazon rank and file in targeted facilities across the country are picketing due to Amazon refusing to bargain with the union, which is an unfair labor practice.

Amazon has been known for horror stories in the treatment of their workers, from denying bathroom breaks to arbitrary firing. Today, Amazon workers are fighting for their interests in an organized way.

Amazon claims that their workers are subcontracted and therefore cannot join a union. However, that fiction is finally being challenged on a national level. and the efforts appear significantly organized.

Almost 1 in 150 Americans currently works for Amazon, and solidarity has played a significant role in the strike strategy as labor and community supporters across the country have joined into picket lines to support the striking workers.

#ThorntonCO #Amazon #TeamstersLocal455

The World Federation of Trade Unions, representing 105 million workers across the globe, extends its fullest support to the militant strikes being launched by the U.S. Teamsters Union members against the gigantic Amazon corporation. Thousands of workers at 7 Amazon worksites across the United States struck on December 19, and additional strikes are planned. The Amazon corporation continues its lawless and dictatorial campaign against its workers who want to join trade unions, and are demanding better pay and conditions. Inaction and paralysis on the part of the U.S. government in the face of this outrageous Amazon company conduct has pushed the workers to take this strike action.

The class struggle in the U.S. is sharpening, and the WFTU extends its complete support for the just demands of the Amazon workers and encourages all its affiliates and friends to express their solidarity the strikers. Workers at Amazon all across the world are in motion, organizing against the company and its monstrous treatment of its employees. Support the Amazon Workers! Support the Amazon Strikes!

#Labor #WFTU #Amazon #Strike

Atlanta, GA – Today, December 19, Amazon workers in Atlanta joined the largest strike against the company in U.S. history. Called by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the strike calls for Amazon to recognize the workers’ union and agree to higher wages, safer conditions, respect and dignity on the job as part of a union contract.

Members of Teamsters Local 728 arrived outside Amazon’s ATL2 facility in Stone Mountain and set up the picket line at around 6 a.m. Shortly after, at the DGT8 facility in Alpharetta, another picket line went up with Teamsters from Amazon and other companies marching and leading chants. These Atlanta picket lines are part of a nationwide action by nearly 10,000 Teamsters at Amazon, sparked by the corporation’s refusal to recognize the Teamsters union and bargain in good faith.

The strike disrupts holiday operations at the $2 trillion corporation, whose workers often struggle to pay bills due to low wages and poor working conditions. “Amazon’s greed pushed us here,” said Gregory Dunn, an Amazon Teamster in Atlanta. “If we don’t fight Amazon’s greed now, they’ll think they can get away with anything.”

The Teamsters were joined on the picket lines by members of other Atlanta unions, including International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) and by community activists. Chants of, “Union-busting is disgusting,” and “Worker power” rang through the morning traffic, with many workers stopping in the street to take leaflets and verbalize their support.

Most significantly, the strike line drew the solidarity of UPS Teamsters, who arrived to deliver packages at the Amazon facilities and promptly turned around, honking to show their support for their fellow union members. UPS Teamsters have a clause in their contract that allows them to refuse to cross a picket line, and those package drivers from Local 728 put their solidarity into practice by not servicing the struck facilities.

#AtlantaGA #GA #Labor #Teamsters #Amazon #Feature

Skokie, IL – Amazon workers are striking the Skokie delivery center known as DIL7, because of the company’s union-busting tactics which violate federal laws. The drivers have faced Amazon’s unfair labor practices, a response to the workers’ efforts to organize with Teamsters Local 705.

Wearing matching t-shirts and holding signs calling for “Fair pay and safe jobs,” dozens of striking Amazon drivers set up picket lines at each entrance to the facility. Chants included “Jeff Bezos you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side!” and a favorite among the drivers “Amazon Prime – white collar crime!”

“We’re making our presence known, we’re making history right now, this is only the second time this has ever happened,” said Amazon driver Luke Cianciotto, referring the strike of Amazon drivers in Palmdale, California last year. “We’re holding Amazon accountable for all the crimes that they commit, everywhere from illegally terminating our contract to just robbing people in every one of their paychecks.”

The Amazon drivers had been employed by Four Star Express Delivery, part of Amazon’s “Delivery Service Partner” subcontracting program, which Amazon uses to keep workers divided and to dodge responsibility. After the effort of the drivers to organize with the Teamsters for better pay and working conditions, Amazon brought in a team of union-busting consultants and ultimately closed down the delivery service partner, an illegal act of retaliation for union activity. The drivers are demanding Amazon recognize the union and bargain a decent contract.

“We’re out here, we’re making things happen, we’re building a community and we’re standing up for what’s right. That’s the only way that history has ever been made,” said Cianciotto, calling on other workers to join the movement.

#ChicagoIL #IL #Labor #Strike #UPS #Teamsters #Amazon

The picket targeted the two main entrances to the facility to draw the attention of the workers at ATL6. The unfair labor practice strike began June 2023, expanding its picket lines to about a dozen cities, including Atlanta.

Participants kept the energy high during the event, holding signs and chanting, “Jeff Bezos, you can’t hide, we can see your greedy side!”

Picketers were met with positivity from Amazon drivers, dispatchers and other workers. Several cars and trucks honked their horns as they drove by the picketers, whether on their way into work or back home.

“To me, this is about showing solidarity with my Teamster sisters and brothers at Amazon,” said Bill Aiman, a UPS Teamster from Local 728 in Atlanta. “Last year during our contract battle with UPS, we held practice pickets to show the company we were strike-ready. Here, the strike is ongoing, and events like this show the workers and Amazon management what union solidarity looks like.”

In April 2023, 84 workers from Palmdale, California became members of Teamsters Local 396 and successfully negotiated a contract with Amazon’s Delivery Service Partner, Battle-Tested Strategies (BTS). However, Amazon, which has total control over BTS and the employment conditions of its workers, has refused to recognize or honor this contract.

Amazon drivers and dispatchers began their unfair labor practice strike at an Amazon delivery station in Palmdale on June 24, 2023. Quickly they expanded their lines and picketed ten more warehouses during their strike, including facilities in California, New Jersey, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Michigan and Georgia.

The driving cause behind the strike, however, were the numerous flagrant violations of federal labor law committed by Amazon. Historically anti-union, the monopoly giant has continuously had aggressive, targeted retaliation and harassment directed against workers involved in the organizing campaign, including illegal terminations.

According to a Teamster press release, “The growing strike will continue until Amazon reinstates the unlawfully terminated Palmdale employees, recognizes the Teamsters, respects the contract negotiated by the workers, and bargains with the Teamsters union to address low pay and dangerous working conditions.”

#AtlantaGA #Labor #Amazon #Teamsters #Strike #Feature

Atlanta, GA – On December 7, Amazon targeted and fired labor organizer Arturo Adame after a year of his consistent worker organizing.

In 2022 Arturo helped lead a successful walkout from the Buford, Georgia Amazon warehouse, officially putting him on Amazon’s radar. In the weeks leading up to his firing, Adame helped organize a petition demanding better pay, working conditions, and respect from Amazon. “As I was getting signatures, they would write me up for very minor phone violations. They were singling me out and holding me to a higher standard than everyone else.”

Adame’s firing occurred alongside a wave of firing union activists across the country, with workers in both New York and Kentucky being targeted for organizing their coworkers. Adame stated, “A couple years ago management didn’t know how to handle the organizing at Amazon and took a more non-confrontational role. But in the years between then and now, with increased organizing at Amazon, they are using tactics from higher management to retaliate against workers trying to organize. Obviously they’re afraid of a union.”

Adame and his coworkers have been thrust into action as a result of Amazon’s repression, launching a “Bring Back Arturo” campaign.

Adame will be filing a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board, but will also be relying on the mobilization of workers and shop floor agitation to get reinstated. “We’re going to try to exercise our shop floor power, with whatever leverage we can, to get me reinstated immediately. We made buttons that say, ‘Bring Back Arturo’ and have been passing those out. We have also been encouraging people to talk to management and to question my firing, to make them acknowledge what they did was illegal and put pressure on them.”

Friends and coworkers of Arturo Adame have organized a Go Fund Me to help him pay bills as he spends the rest of the year fighting to be reinstated.

#AtlantaGA #Labor #Amazon

Atlanta, GA – On July 26 Amazon workers and community members picketed ATL 6, the Atlanta Amazon Sortation Center. The Amazon drivers in Palmdale, CA extended picket lines to Atlanta as part of their unfair labor practice (ULP) strike against Amazon. The Palmdale Amazon Drivers voted to join Teamsters Local 396 earlier this year and ratified a contract shortly thereafter. Amazon responded to the workers forming a union by retaliating and terminating the newly organized drivers. As a result, the Drivers began their ULP strike.

“We’ve currently been on strike for over a month now since they cut our contract early because we unionized with the Teamsters,” said Jessie Moreno, one of the Palmdale Amazon drivers. “So now at this point we just need Amazon to recognize the union, negotiate and get our jobs back. To get that we need to obviously disrupt their operations in other locations, so they realize the Teamsters mean business, we mean business and it’s time for them to pay up and respect their workers.”

Amazon’s delivery service is performed by subcontracted Delivery Service Providers (DSP). While these DSPs are their own separate companies on paper, Amazon has total control over how they’re run and managed. The Palmdale drivers are the first DSP to organize in Amazon’s delivery network.

The International Brotherhood of Teamsters launched a new Amazon Division in September of last year with the goal of organizing Amazon workers across the United States. Amazon was the third largest package delivery company in 2022, delivering over 4 billion packages in the U.S. alone. As the company continues to grow and expand its own delivery network and move away from using other delivery services like UPS and USPS, organizing Amazon has been seen as increasingly important for organized labor.

“For Teamsters and the labor movement as a whole, Amazon poses an existential threat to the rights and standards that our members have fought for and won for over 100 years,” said Randy Korgan, the Amazon Division director of the Teamsters.

The Palmdale drivers will continue to strike and extend picket lines until Amazon reinstates the drivers and recognizes their union contract.

#AtlantaGA #Teamsters #Amazon

In the weeks leading up to and during the voting period, Amazon pulled out all the stops and engaged in an intense and well-funded union-busting effort. According to the RWDSU, Amazon violated the National Labor Relations Act more than 50 times during the effort to unionize. RWDSU has since filed many charges and is attempting to get a new election, saying the first election was spoiled by the violations. While many of the violations that Amazon committed may be found true by the NLRB, the reality is that elections are very rarely overturned and in most cases the settlements ordered by the NLRB are things like the company being required to hang a notice stating that they broke the law and informing workers of their legal rights going forward, or other similar slap-on-the-wrist level remedies.

Some of the companies union-busting tactics included things like lobbying local officials successfully to have the timing on a stoplight shortened in front of the Amazon facility so that union supporters would have less time to talk to workers coming and going from the job. Amazon also got many employees to quit with $1000 bribes in an attempt to get those people to leave the job and not be eligible to vote in the election. The company ran an aggressive campaign of mandatory meetings, texting workers sometimes as much as five times a day, posting fear-mongering literature against unions in the bathrooms, and reportedly threatening employees if they supported the union, including threatening that the facility might close if the union vote went through.

While this election turned out to be a loss, organizing in Amazon continues to be seen as a major priority for many in the U.S. labor movement and it is likely that more efforts will be made to form unions in the Amazon’s hundreds of U.S. locations.

#UnitedStates #CapitalismAndEconomy #PeoplesStruggles #Amazon

The vote was done by mail-in ballot, which can slow down the counting process, however even with a group of 5800 people it is highly unusual for a vote to take this long to count, or more than a few hours. The union says that this is a result of several hundred challenges being filed by the employer to votes cast, which has slowed the process considerably.

Actual counting of the votes is expected to begin on Thursday, April 8 in the afternoon, or on Friday morning. While counting the ballots may only take a couple hours by itself, the counting process may be laden with more challenges to ballots by either party if one party or the other argues that a ballot has been spoiled. Ballots can be spoiled in many ways, including if a worker wrote their name on a ballot, or did not fill it out in a manner in which the intent is clear.

Depending on the numbers, we may find out a result by the end of Friday. Or we may see further delays of weeks or even months if the number of challenges proves greater than the margin by which the vote is decided, which would mean the challenges would be ‘determinative’ and could result in a delay of results being certified until after those challenges are settled by the NLRB.

Many in the U.S. labor movement see this as an important time for the movement and are watching results anxiously.

#BirminghamAL #union #unionElection #Amazon #Alabama #Ballot

The World Federation of Trade Unions expressing the voice of more than 105 million workers in 132 countries, stands in solidarity with the workers of Amazon in their four days strike demanding the recognition of collective bargaining agreements, health and safety measures and salary increase. The strikes are taking place in warehouses in Rheinberg, Werne, Koblenz, Leipzig and two sites in Bad Hersfeld.

The international class-oriented trade union movement supports the fair demands of the employees and workers of Amazon and calls upon them to intensify and extend their struggle for the satisfaction of their contemporary needs.

#Germany #PeoplesStruggles #WorldFederationOfTradeUnionsWFTU #WFTU #Amazon

Bessemer, AL – A March 20 solidarity caravan made up of delegations from three Tennessee city Labor Councils – Chattanooga, Memphis and Nashville – traveled to meet Amazon workers who have joined the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) in Bessemer, Alabama, where they held a rally at the union hall before going to the gates of the Amazon center to hold up pro-union signs and interact with workers entering and exiting the plant.

Speakers such as RWDSU organizer “Big Mike” Foster and the Ohio politician Nina Turner highlighted the link between the struggle at Amazon, led mainly by its Black workers, and the historical connection between the labor movement and the movement for Black civil rights.

#BessemerAL #PeoplesStruggles #Amazon #RWDSU

Each day Amazon workers receive text messages from the company, often many times a day. Many of these texts have implied that if the union is voted in, then Amazon may have to close the facility, costing the workers their jobs. Union elections in the U.S. private sector are governed by the National Labor Relations Act, which states that an employer may not “Threaten employees with adverse consequences, such as closing the workplace, loss of benefits, or more onerous working conditions, if they support a union, engage in union activity, or select a union to represent them.” While these texts are a clear violation of the law, Amazon continues to send them, making it clear they will stop at nothing to keep their workers from having a voice in the decisions by joining the union.

Taking their illegal union-busting activities a step further, on February 20, Amazon sent workers emails offering a $2000 bribe in the form of a “bonus” to workers who had been there through at least two peak seasons if they agreed to quit their jobs before the union vote, and raising the price of the bribe to $3000 if they had been there through three peak seasons. To attempt to bribe your employees out of supporting a union is also in direct violation of the NLRA.

In a particularly public and brazen union-busting effort Amazon has even used their connections to get local authorities to shorten the times of the stoplights in front of the Amazon location to make it harder for union supporters to hand out union literature to their coworkers.

All of these attempts to stop the union point to the same thing. Amazon apparently knows that if the union vote goes through, their workers will have more decision-making power at their jobs, and Amazon will likely end up having to pay them more and give them better benefits. At the same time that Amazon holds meetings attempting to convince the workers that joining the union will not win them anything, they show that they know this is false by working feverishly and spending huge sums of money to stop the vote from going through.

Union supporters are using the bosses’ own tactics to help their coworkers understand the power they will have by joining the union. They argue that if the boss can afford to offer their workers thousands of dollars each in bribes to quit, then they could afford to simply pay them better to begin with.

The vote is happening over seven weeks through mail-in ballots, and voting will continue through March 30. Votes will be counted soon after that. The only thing that is clear right now is that Amazon is trying any tactic it can, legal or illegal, to stop these workers from joining the union.

#BessemerAL #PeoplesStruggles #Amazon

New York, NY – Between February 8 and March 29, over 6000 Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, are voting on joining the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union (RWDSU). On Saturday, February 20, there was a national day of action called by the Southern Workers Assembly, with actions taking place in over 50 cities across the country.

This struggle is in response to the exploitative conditions faced by Amazon workers.

While CEO Jeff Bezos’ net worth is $194.2 billion, Amazon workers do not have a union and do not make living wages. Amazon has faced lawsuits for failing to provide proper PPE to workers and having a racist bias in response to COVID-19. Amazon workers have even resorted to wearing diapers during their shifts to avoid taking breaks and risking punishment.

In the New York City area, there were two rallies. One of them took place in at Union Square and was organized by the Workers Assembly Against Racism. The other action was organized by the December 12th Movement in East New York, Brooklyn.

At the Brooklyn protest, over 40 people rallied in front of the recently opened Amazon warehouse. The speakers talked about the exploitation of Amazon workers, the need to support their unionization, and how Amazon has impacted New Yorkers.

There have been efforts made in New York City to unionize Amazon workers. One speaker from the December 12th Movement talked about the unionization effort made in Staten Island. In 2019, an Amazon warehouse worker, Rashad Long, was fired after an attempt to unionize the workers there. His firing was due to a supposed safety violation, but Long saw it was an excuse to fire him for his organizing. He put in a complaint to the National Labor Relations Board, because workers have the right to discuss unionization without retaliation.

Much like how the Alabama Amazon workers are a majority Black workforce, East New York is a predominantly African American neighborhood.

Assemblywoman Inez Barron spoke about how the new warehouse in East New York will be bad for the community. Barron mentioned that there is a public school near the warehouse, and how the increased presence of trucks in the area will result in more emissions that can have serious consequences for the health of those students.

The rally lasted for about an hour, and then closed out with some chants, including “Amazon workers, we got your back!” and “Stand and fight, a union is a human right!”

#NewYorkNY #PeoplesStruggles #Amazon #RWDSU

Grand Rapids, MI – Outside the stagehands union IATSE Local 26 headquarters in Grand Rapids, union members and youth activists attached big signs to their cars saying “Amazon needs a union!” and “Solidarity with Amazon!” They gathered in the freezing cold on February 19 for a press conference and car caravan to three Amazon centers, including a giant new one promising to employ 1000 workers.

Josh Roskamp, IATSE26 business agent, said, “Working conditions at Amazon are harsh. They refuse to universally adopt measures that protect workers from COVID 19, and the work and lifting can be back-breaking. That is why workers are forming a union. They want safety and respect on the job.”

“We are here in solidarity with the union drive in Alabama because win or lose, the lesson for every worker is clear. Organize, organize, organize. We need fighting unions in every industry to get respect and contracts with good benefits,” said labor activist Tom Burke.

Burke continued, “Boss Bezos wants to own the whole market, make it a monopoly. Bezos plans to do away with UPS and the Post Office along with the unions there. We need to organize every Amazon warehouse at the same time, all across the country. If one warehouse wins, Amazon can just close it. We need the Teamster and AFL-CIO leaders to get out from behind their desks and lead the fight.”

Approximately 6000 workers at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama will vote by March 29 to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale Department Store Workers Union. With a mostly Black work force, the union drive is history-changing, as they go up against one of the biggest and most powerful transnational corporations in the world, and its super-rich union-busting owner, Jeff Bezos. Bezos is the second richest person in the world, worth $194 billion.

These workers are standing up to the racist, anti-union laws that suppress labor across the South. Their struggle is inspiring workers and supporters around the country with 50 cities holding rallies or events for a national day of action.

As the car caravan snaked around the circle entrance of one Amazon facility in West Michigan, seven yellow vested managers ran out, waving their arms and asking drivers to leave. Amazon is clearly shaken up.

#GrandRapidsMI #PeoplesStruggles #Amazon #IATSE