In the wake of a historic union election victory at the Amazon JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, more Amazon workers in the US are trying to replicate that success with their own organizing campaigns in other states.
The moves comes despite losses in Alabama and at a second warehouse in Staten Island, where workers rejected unionization pushes.
In Garner, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, workers are pushing to organize a union at the Amazon warehouse RDU1, a 700,000 sq ft facility with four floors.
Through the grassroots organization Cause, Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, workers are demanding a $5 an hour pay increase; a return to digital time clocks rather than physical ones, where workers are forced to wait in long lines to punch in and out; longer breaks; a revision to Amazon’s time-off options; the formation of a worker committee to address grievances and appeals; and mental health resources for workers.
Albert Elliot, who has worked at the Garner plant for about 18 months, said the organizing effort began in response to mistreatment of workers across the board, from discrimination, racism, unequal treatment from managers, unfair write-ups, and insufficient breaks for the work they do.
“We are treated like robots, as if we have batteries on our backs,” said Elliott. “Management, they’re actually the robots. They have been trained to give this generic Amazon response of, ‘Well, we’re sorry that you feel that way,’ and so on and so forth. It’s just a generic response because they don’t know what to say and they don’t know what to do.”
Elliott said organizing at Amazon is challenging because of the sheer size of the warehouse, and how disconnected workers are from one another He said the focus on productivity and short breaks provides little time to communicate with co-workers, and there’s a sense of fear among workers who are not aware of their rights in the workplace.
“That’s part of our name and part of our slogan: to educate and to empower. We want to educate on each and every thing they have a right to, because the first thing you often hear people say is ‘I don’t want to lose my job’ or ‘I’m afraid I’ll get written up’,” said Elliott.
“Because of the treatment going on, a lot of workers are quitting. They feel like they don’t have a voice and they don’t stand a chance against this Amazon giant.”
He also noted that the high employee turnover makes it difficult to organize, but that they are trying to emphasize the message: ‘Don’t quit. Organize.’
Azhani Crawford, 19, started working at Amazon last year, but was laid off because her unpaid time off went in the red for being late to work, because she relied on her mother for transportation, who also has a job. Her request for a schedule change to accommodate that was ignored. She had to wait 90 days before she could reapply and get rehired. She got involved with Cause after hearing another worker with the organization discuss an unfair write-up, and problems she has experienced in trying to get help from human resources.
“Imagine how much more the process assistants and everybody above us get paid, and they don’t do anything but patrol us all day, like, ‘Hey, why are you sitting down?’ and ‘You were in the bathroom for too long,’” said Crawford.
In Upper Marlboro, Maryland, two workers with Amazonians United, an independent organizing group of Amazon workers, alleged in an unfair labor practice charge filed with the NLRB that they were fired in retaliation for union activity, including gathering signature for two petitions and organizing a walkout in March.
In Campbellsville, Kentucky, 22-year-old Matthew Littrell is trying to unionize his warehouse, SDF1, after getting inspired by the union effort in New York City. Littrell and other workers officially launched their union campaign as a new chapter of Amazon Labor Union, the independent union at JFK8 in New York.
Littrell has worked as a picker since early last year, working night shifts at the warehouse that first opened in 1999 as one of Amazon’s first warehouses. He has been part of the site’s safety committee since November.
“They don’t invest anything here as far as our safety goes, and as far as keeping the facility at a reasonable temperature. In some areas, it gets horribly hot, and you feel like you’re suffocating because there’s no ventilation,” said Littrell.
Since he started organizing, Littrell has filed an unfair labor practice charge for pushback he has received from management, including what he alleges was a retaliatory write-up for productivity and for having the police called while he was leafleting outside the parking lot in early June.
Amazon denied all allegations of retaliation in Maryland, Kentucky, and in New York at JFK8 and LDJ5, as Amazon’s objections to the JFK8 election and unfair labor practice charges alleged against Amazon at LDJ5 are still under review.
In response to the union organizing a spokesperson said in an email, “Our employees have the choice of whether or not to join a union. They always have.
“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
