{"id":7826,"date":"2022-10-20T10:45:26","date_gmt":"2022-10-20T14:45:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tempestmag.org\/v01_2020\/staging\/?p=7826"},"modified":"2022-10-31T10:03:58","modified_gmt":"2022-10-31T14:03:58","slug":"san-bernardino-amazon-warehouse-walkout","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tempestmag.org\/test02\/2022\/10\/san-bernardino-amazon-warehouse-walkout\/","title":{"rendered":"San Bernardino Amazon warehouse walkout"},"content":{"rendered":"

L<\/span>ast Friday, October 14, approximately 100 workers at a San Bernardino, California air freight hub (KSBD) walked out of the facility to join hundreds of unionists and other supporters. These workers represent the Inland Empire<\/span><\/a> Amazon Workers United (IEAWU). The day before, the workers filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board accusing the retail giant of unfair labor practices.<\/p>\n

Although IEAWU is not affiliated with the Teamsters Union, Teamsters Local 1932 mobilized public support for the walkout. On Friday afternoon, members of the Local, other unions, members of community organizations, and others picketed with signs reading, \u201cPrime Shoppers Beware: Amazon Air is Unfair.\u201d Picketers chanted, \u201cWhen workers fight, workers win!\u201d and \u201cFe, fi, fo, fum, Bezos is a fucking bum!\u201d<\/p>\n

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Unionists picket Amazon warehouse in San Bernardino, CA. Photo by Dana Cloud.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The action took place just as the October 11-12 Prime Day packages were due to be fulfilled.<\/p>\n

Friday\u2019s action took place alongside other Amazon worker protests, including a union vote at the ALB1 facility in Albany, New York, and walkouts in Joliet, Illinois, and Stone Mountain, Georgia. In April, workers at Amazon\u2019s Staten Island, New York facility (JFK8) won an unprecedented vote to join the Amazon Labor Union. At another Southern California Amazon facility, ONT8, workers attempting to join the Amazon Labor Union have faced anti-union campaigns, harassment, and retaliation.<\/p>\n

According to the Los Angeles Times, Amazon \u00a0<\/span>has engaged in retaliation<\/span><\/a> against San Bernardino workers organizing for better pay and safer work conditions. Management has interrogated members of the IEAWU, wrote up other employees wearing stickers calling for a $5-an-hour wage increase, and engaged in surveillance against workers involved in organizing.<\/p>\n

IEAWU organizer Alfonso Rodriguez stated that the company is paying anti-union \u201cconsultants\u201d $2,000 a day to shut down organizing efforts. He reported that one of the tactics of the union-busters is to pit workers against each other along racial lines, encouraging Black and Latinx workers to stay away from walkouts.<\/p>\n

The workers, who make between $17 and $20 per hour, are asking for a five-dollar raise. In Southern California, $20 is less than a live-able wage for even a single person in the context of median home prices of more than $600,000<\/span><\/a>, skyrocketing rents, and an inflation rate of 7.9 percent<\/span><\/a>. (By comparison, in 2021, Jeff Bezos made<\/span><\/a> $1.75 billion per week.) And such wages are a pittance for the kind of backbreaking labor Amazon workers perform.<\/p>\n

Safety concerns: \u201cIt does take a toll on your body.\u201d<\/h4>\n

Workers who walked out on Friday described not only company efforts to quash organizing but also a set of oppressive work conditions. They described safety concerns, including loading cargo in oppressive heat and maneuvering heavy equipment without adequate protections. Xiomara Quintana described how she and others unload planes and carry boxes weighing up to forty pounds between planes and trucks during shifts lasting ten hours. Her co-worker Shaquille Combs said, \u201cThere have been times where I\u2019ve gone home where it\u2019s just my feet start feeling numb from standing and walking all day, moving boxes around and pulling pallets around with shuttles. It does take a toll on your body–back, lower back, and feet.\u201d<\/p>\n