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Warehouse Worker Resource Center

Improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California

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Elizabeth Brennan

WWRC Testifies Before U.S. House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections

November 17, 2022 by Elizabeth Brennan

WASHINGTON, D.C. – This morning, speakers who are part of the Athena coalition testified before the Subcommittee on Workforce Protections in a hearing to examine the unsafe and untenable conditions warehouse workers face:

  • Sheheryar Kaoosji, Executive Director, Warehouse Worker Resource Center

  • Eric Frumin, Director of Health and Safety, Strategic Organizing Center

  • Janeth Caicedo, Make The Road NJ Member and Sister of Edilberto Caicedo, a warehouse worker who died on the job

“A core issue of warehousing is pace of work. Workers are pushed to move as quickly as possible in these workplaces, in order to keep up with the rapid pace of delivery necessary to keep the supply chain thin and running smoothly. Amazon has accelerated these forces, moving workers rapidly through their facilities in order to keep up with the rapid pace of their operations. Amazon’s intention is not to store products, but rather to keep them moving and flowing through their systems, in order to have as thin and quick a supply chain as possible. This is the state of the art–what the rest of the industry aims to match,” stated Sheheryar Kaoosji, executive director of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center.

He continued, “When you order a product to arrive in 24 or 48 hours, there is no magic robot or process that makes that happen. The product moves fast because people run. People move quickly and get injured,”

This hearing was organized in response to the ongoing demands of Amazon workers, and after the deaths of three Amazon workers in New Jersey. In September 2022, the Athena coalition led over 30 civil society and worker organizations to ask Congress to conduct a hearing to investigate Amazon’s warehouse safety crisis.

“Amazon distinguishes itself by using high tech to injure its workers more than other employers do in two ways: First, they push workers harder than other employers using algorithms. Second, they use robots to make their jobs even more dangerous. Injury rates in their robotic facilities are higher than in others.” stated Eric Frumin, Director of Health and Safety at the Strategic Organizing Center.

He continued, “Andy Jassy could issue a directive this afternoon to stop firing workers whose bodies require a break from the pressure. Nothing is preventing him from doing so.”

We are glad the Subcommittee and the public had an opportunity to hear about the ongoing safety crisis at Amazon. Specifically, we heard from speakers’ testimony that:

  • The crisis is a direct result of Amazon’s punitive management practices that use constant surveillance and threat of termination to push workers to the breaking point; the company’s use of retaliation and union busting that prevents workers from advocating for safer conditions; and the high-turnover model that prioritizes profit over safety, even during natural disasters and extreme weather.

  • These unsafe conditions are preventable. Because major employers like Amazon are unwilling to put people before profits, members of Congress have the responsibility to pass laws, like legislators in California did, to prevent ongoing injuries and deaths.

  • Amazon’s model is a threat to workers everywhere. As the second largest private employer in the country, Amazon and its labor practices have an outsized impact on our economy, and sets precedent in the retail, warehousing, and logistics sectors.

“On August 19, 2019, I received a call that my brother Edilberto was at the hospital with a very, very dangerous injury in his brain. He died four days later. It was a drastic change in my life, in my family’s life, and nothing, nothing has been the same again. My mom, who is 93 years old, still feels that he will come one day to tell her what happened,” stated Janeth Caicedo, Make the Road NJ member and sister of Edilberto Caicedo, a warehouse worker who died on the job.

She continued, “I think the accident was the company’s fault. The company didn’t follow OSHA regulations. There was no interest in keeping a safe workplace at all. The company was accepting contract after contract and piling people inside the warehouse without maintaining any type of safety protocol. The equipment was also unsafe. The company didn’t keep up the machines and didn’t provide adequate training. These conditions would end up killing my brother.”

###

Filed Under: Featured, Press Releases

Workers Strike Amazon Air Hub in San Bernardino

October 14, 2022 by Elizabeth Brennan

Contact: media@warehouseworkers.org

In the heart of America’s Supply Chain, Amazon Warehouse Workers are Demanding Higher Pay, Safe Working Conditions

San Bernardino, Calif. — Amazon warehouse workers are on strike to protest Amazon’s unfair labor practices and retaliation in response to worker demands for better, safer jobs with fair wages and an end to threats and intimidation. 

Workers walked off the job mid-shift Friday and will hold a rally and picket line in front of their facility, KSBD, the massive Amazon air hub in San Bernardino. 

Inland Empire Amazon Workers United are demanding a $5/hour increase in pay, safe working conditions and an end to retaliation. The strike comes during “Prime Week,” when workers must process extra volume for Amazon’s major sales event. 

“Workers at KSBD and across the country are standing up for what we deserve. We have been targeted, threatened, and intimidated by Amazon managers and Amazon consultants and today we are on strike,” said Rex Evans, who works at KSBD. “Amazon has the resources and the power to improve the quality of jobs of the people who make them profitable, but they choose to spend millions on consultants instead of warehouse workers.”

At the end of 2021 workers were told with limited notice that the warehouse would be closed two additional days without pay,  meaning workers would have no pay for a total of four days around the holidays. This closure caused financial hardship for many people working at KSBD, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck. That catalyzed a group of workers to start organizing: 

  • At the beginning of 2022, workers delivered a petition around the surprise closure to management and eventually won a policy change. 
  • In July at the start of Amazon’s “Prime Week,” workers delivered a petition signed by more than 800 employees at KSBD demanding a wage increase of $5/hour. Dozens of workers confronted management about workers’ difficulty making ends meet on Amazon pay, especially as the cost of living skyrockets. 
  • Aug. 15, more than 150 workers walked off the job after Amazon ignored their demands. 
  • In August and September more than 100 workers confronted management about safety measures during an historic heat wave. 
  • In September, Amazon announced it would raise wages by just $1 at KSBD. In response,  workers gave Amazon a deadline of Oct. 10 to respond to their demands. 
  • On Oct. 11 workers announced they will go on strike to protest Amazon’s unfair labor practices and shameful response to their demands on Oct. 14. 

“Amazon is bringing in outside consultants and managers who have tried to undermine what we are doing,” said Alfonso Rodriguez, who works at KSBD. “We are awake and we want to fix what is going on in this building. We want to make Amazon a better and safer place to work.”

The facility, also known as KSBD, is a critical leg in the Amazon logistics network and is one of only a few “air hubs” nationwide. 

The facility opened in March 2021 amidst community concern and opposition around job quality and air pollution. A 2018 study found that even before this facility opened, Amazon’s flights into and out of airports in Riverside and San Bernardino counties released an estimated 620,000 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The two counties also have the worst ozone pollution in the US, largely due to the warehousing industry.

Amazon promised quality jobs, but has failed to deliver. Since the opening, workers have organized in response to low pay, illness-inducing heat, and brutal working conditions. In addition to a new rest area, workers have also won an increase in pay for night shifts.

The warehouse is located at the former Norton Air Force Base. Amazon currently operates 14 flights a day in and out of the 24-hour facility. Amazon has said its goal is to operate 26 flights a day. The number of workers at the warehouse fluctuates, currently about 1,300 but more than 1,800 in peak season, demonstrating the lack of stability in these Amazon jobs.

The Inland Empire Amazon Workers United is supported by the Warehouse Worker Resource Center and many community-based organizations in the Inland Empire including Inland Congregations United for Change, Teamsters Local 1932, Inland Empire Labor Council, Sierra Club San Gorgonio and the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice. 

###

About the WWRC

The Warehouse Worker Resource Center is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), organization founded in 2011 dedicated to improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California. We focus on education, advocacy and action to change poor working conditions in the largest warehousing hub in the country.

 

Filed Under: Featured, Press Releases

Amazon Warehouse Workers Document Extreme Temperatures in Western Air Hub, Demand Safety Protections

September 16, 2022 by Elizabeth Brennan

Contact: media@warehouseworkers.org

Bracing for California’s Heat Wave, Workers Demanded and Won Extra safety Precautions to Protect their Coworkers from Extreme Heat

San Bernardino, Calif. — Warehouse workers at Amazon’s West Coast Air Freight Fulfillment Center, also known as KSBD, in partnership with the Warehouse Worker Resource Center, released a new report Thursday that documents extremely high temperatures at the warehouse and grave inconsistencies with Amazon’s own temperature monitors.

“People who I work with closely, who I call friends, have suffered from heat illness this summer,” said Rex Evans, who works at KSBD. “When we saw the forecast that it would be even hotter, we had to take action. We had to protect ourselves.”

Over the summer, at least half a dozen workers documented heat illness at KSBD and as temperatures soared into the 90s and 100s, the workers at KSBD formulated their demands and directly approached Amazon warehouse management on Aug. 31 and Sept. 2 to win protections from extreme heat.

Then workers representing every department at the facility took thermometers to work for seven days and recorded the temperatures throughout the day. At one point, on Sept. 4, workers recorded a temperature of 121 degrees in an outdoor work area.

“We understand how serious heat illness is. It can kill,” said Alfonso Rodriguez, who works at the facility. “We do physically demanding work, moving thousands of pounds of freight a day. Without regular breaks, access to water and a chance to cool your body down, even the healthiest person is in danger.”

The data the workers collected confirmed extreme temperatures at the facility and affirmed that their advocacy was merited, underlining the need for improved health and safety protections.

“Workers in California have a right to a safe work environment and that includes protections from heat,” said Tim Shaddix, legal director at the Warehouse Worker Resource Center. “But collective action is critical to actually hold a company, especially one as large as Amazon, accountable to the people essential to their business.”

Since workers approached facility management they have won:

  • Increased, yet inconsistent, preventative cool down breaks
  • Increased access to water, ice and electrolyte packets
  • Increased fans inside the facility, permanent fans yet to be installed
  • Outdoor employees have been moved indoors one time
  • Increased rotation for outdoor employees

“It is an unfortunate fact that in our country, workers have to come together to hold their employees accountable to the rules and protect themselves and their co-workers in dangerous situations like this heat,” said Sheheryar Kaoosji, executive director of the Warehouse Worker Resource Center. “We know that when workers are not in a position to protect themselves, we see increased violations and injuries.”

BACKGROUND

KSBD opened in March 2021 and is one of three major U.S. Amazon air hubs. Amazon currently operates approximately 14 flights a day in and out of the 24-hour facility. At the San Bernardino facility workers process prepackaged merchandise that is flown or trucked in from other Amazon facilities for outbound shipments in either planes or trucks. Freight from KSBD serves markets across the country.

Workers at KSBD work both inside a 658,500 square foot building with inconsistent ventilation and outside on the San Bernardino International Airports tarmac. Workers’ jobs require physical labor and shifts are generally ten hours a day. About 500 of the roughly 1,400 employees work outside for the duration of their shifts. Amazon also requires a high rate of work of its employees.

###

About the WWRC

The Warehouse Worker Resource Center is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), organization founded in 2011 dedicated to improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California. We focus on education, advocacy and action to change poor working conditions in the largest warehousing hub in the country.

Filed Under: All Posts, Featured, Press Releases

Statement of Solidarity with Workers Organizing at SoCal Amazon Facility, ONT8

September 9, 2022 by Elizabeth Brennan

Contact: media@warehouseworkers.org

San Bernardino, Calif. — In response to Amazon warehouse workers announcing their intention to form a union at the Amazon fulfillment center in Moreno Valley, Calif., known as ONT8, the Warehouse Worker Resource Center issued the following statement:

The WWRC stands in solidarity with the people who work at ONT8 and congratulates them on their effort to form a union. In a region where more than 200,000 people work in hundreds of different warehouses, it is critical that we all stand together to call for better pay to keep up with the cost of living in Southern California, safe workplaces free from sexual harassment and injury, and a reduction in congestion and harmful emissions.

The community and the people who work in warehouses in the Inland Empire are demanding accountability from the corporations that operate the warehouses in our neighborhoods. For too long, retailers like Amazon and Walmart have extracted resources from our community. The workers at ONT8, like the workers at Amazon’s air freight facility in San Bernardino and community members in Riverside and other communities, are standing together to demand change to improve the lives of the people who live here.

###

About the WWRC

The Warehouse Worker Resource Center is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), organization founded in 2011 dedicated to improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California. We focus on education, advocacy and action to change poor working conditions in the largest warehousing hub in the country.

Filed Under: All Posts, Featured, Press Releases

Amazon workers walk off the job at major West Coast air hub

August 15, 2022 by Elizabeth Brennan

Reposted from the Washington Post

The workers, who are demanding higher pay and better safety precautions, are organizing within the e-commerce behemoth’s essential air logistics arm.

By Lauren Kaori Gurley and Caroline O’Donovan 

August 15, 2022 at 6:28 p.m. EDT

Dozens of Amazon employees at the company’s air hub in San Bernardino, Calif., on Monday abandoned their workstations mid-shift over low wages and concerns regarding heat safety.

The walkout in Southern California marks the first coordinated labor action in Amazon’s growing airfreight division, which uses Prime-branded planes to fly packages and goods around the country much like UPS or FedEx. The employees, who are independently organized, said they don’t plan to return to work on Monday in an effort to pressure Amazon to raise wages and improve safety.

Organizers said more than 50 people walked out Monday afternoon, where managers had already slowed some operations in anticipation of the action. While a fraction of the 1,500 total employees who work at the hub in various shifts walked out, even a small work stoppage can create logistical headaches and disruptions.

Amazon calls cops, fires workers in attempts to stop unionization nationwide

Monday’s walkout is the latest sign that pro-union sentiment is spreading throughout Amazon’s ranks — this time at a uniquely vulnerable point in its logistics network. Amazon depends heavily on a small number of air hubs to keep millions of packages moving every day, which means the impact of a strike or work stoppage at any of those facilities would have a greater impact than a similar action at a regional warehouse.

Even as Amazon, the nation’s second largest private employer, pits its weight against organized labor — trying, for example, to get the results of the Amazon Labor Union’s historic election victory in Staten Island thrown out — the walkout in California demonstrates how workers are continuing to independently organize around the country.

Anna Ortega, 23, said she hopes the San Bernardino walkout that she participated in forces Amazon to “stop and think about what they’re doing and why.”

“With the rising cost of everything in our lives, it’s getting tough to make ends meet,” said Ortega, who makes $17.30 an hour. “It doesn’t make any sense that people who work here should be on food stamps or struggling financially.”

Workers are also asking for better heat safety measures as the temperature has often reached above 100 degrees this summer, causing heat-related illness in particular for workers who are outdoors loading and unloading planes. Federal workplace health and safety officials have recently investigated the deaths of three Amazon workers in New Jersey and expanded a probe into safety issues at Amazon warehouses nationally.

OSHA investigates deaths of Amazon workers in New Jersey

“We appreciate and respect the direct relationship we have with our employees to discuss and address feedback,” said Paul Flaningan, an Amazon spokesperson, before the walkout. “Through this open-door policy we have many communication channels we use, including All Hands meetings, which help us address employee concerns.”

Flaningan added that full-time employees at the San Bernardino Air Hub and throughout the region have a minimum wage floor of $17 an hour and can earn up to $19.25 and receive health care, retirement benefits and up to 20 weeks of parental leave. Flaningan did not immediately respond to additional questions about the walkout Monday afternoon.

The San Bernardino work stoppage is part of a broader wave of labor organizing campaigns across the country at Amazon warehouses — marked so far by union election victory in Staten Island. Results at a warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., are too close to call and are currently being contested. And a warehouse in Albany, N.Y., is also growing close to filing for a vote.

The coordinated work stoppage in San Bernardino is the culmination of months of organizing by an independent group of warehouse workers, which calls itself Inland Empire Amazon Workers United, that formed early this year. Workers said they have been meeting in air hub break rooms, workers’ homes, restaurants, and a community center in San Bernardino in recent months to discuss their working conditions.

The seeds for the group were planted earlier this year during a facility-wide all-hands meeting when a handful of workers at the air hub spoke out and circulated a petition about the hardships caused by hundreds of dollars in lost pay for individual workers during a series of unexpected holiday closures in late 2021.

In response, Amazon’s Flaningan said the company changed its global policy for temporary closures — limiting any impact to one unpaid shift per holiday period.

After months of organizing in and outside of the warehouse, the group delivered a petition to warehouse management in July with more than 800 signatures from workers in the facility. They demanded $5 an hour pay increases and a series of smaller raises for workers with specific job titles and night shifts.

“We as Amazon Associates work hard to ensure that the building hits the numbers it strives for and work together in order to provide satisfaction to all of our customers,” the petition said. “[But] we can barely afford to live in today’s economy.”

According to the workers’ petition, the average rent in San Bernardino is $1,650 a month, which means full-time Amazon air hub workers earning a starting wage of $17 an hour must pay roughly 75 percent of their monthly income post-taxes on rent. The legal minimum wage in California is $15 an hour; according to researchers at MIT, a living wage in the San Bernardino area would be closer to $18.10 for someone without children.

“We’re not making enough to save anything,” said Sara Fee, a lead organizer of Inland Empire Amazon Workers United who sorts packages at the air hub. “If something goes wrong with my car, I don’t have savings. I can’t afford to eat healthy food. I have to buy chicken nuggets or noodles.”

Amazon called all-hands meetings at the facility on Aug. 3 and 5 to address the petition. Managers suggested that workers save money by taking the public bus and enrolling in a carpooling benefits program. They also offered a $1.50 an hour raise on the weekday night shifts and ​​a $2 an hour raise on weekend night shifts.

Four workers involved in organizing at the facility described grueling working conditions to The Washington Post. Two workers said they had experienced heat-induced nosebleeds this summer and another described hitting her head on a shipping container and getting a concussion.

“It’s been really hot every day this summer,” said Daniel Rivera, a leader of the union drive who unloads freight from incoming aircraft. “They say there is air conditioning but you can only feel it in some sections.”

Amazon’s Flaningan said that the entire air hub campus has indoor AC and that to date no heat related illnesses have been reported from active loading areas.

Marc Wulfraat, an industry consultant who tracks Amazon’s facilities globally, said that the Amazon air hub in San Bernardino is one of the most logistically significant for Amazon in the country. The facility is a regional hub for Amazon that funnels customers’ orders from across the country to regional outposts on the West Coast. Recent flight data shows the facility oversees around seven flights a day to and from the East Coast, the Midwest, Texas, and the Pacific Northwest.

San Bernardino, and its neighboring county Riverside, have more than 35 Amazon facilities. The company is the region’s largest private employer.

Air hubs are more significant to Amazon for entire regions, compared with one warehouse the company could route around in case of disruptions, Wulfraat said.

The workers at the San Bernardino air hub have received organizing assistance and space to hold meetings from local labor organizations, including the Warehouse Worker Resource Center and Teamsters Local 1932, but prefer to remain independent.

Workers who walked out of the facility on Monday don’t have immediate plans to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board, but said they would consider filing for a formal election in the future.

“Staten Island was absolutely inspiring,” Fee said. “Unionizing is not off the table for us.”

Filed Under: All Posts

Workers Walk Off the Job at Amazon Air Hub in San Bernardino

August 15, 2022 by Elizabeth Brennan

Contact: media@warehouseworkers.org

In the heart of America’s Supply Chain, Amazon Warehouse Workers are Demanding Higher Pay, Safe Working Conditions

San Bernardino, Calif. — Amazon warehouse workers walked off the job Monday at a warehouse in San Bernardino, the heart of the U.S. supply chain.

Inland Empire Amazon Workers United are demanding an increase in pay, safe working conditions and an end to retaliation. About 900 workers have signed a petition calling for the base pay rate to be raised to $22 an hour. Workers currently start at $17 an hour.

“Amazon could deliver a higher standard for workers, but they don’t,” said Sara Fee, who has worked at the air hub since it opened in March 2021. “A warehouse is just a warehouse. A company is just a company. The people are what makes it all work and we are strong and united to fight for what we deserve.”

In July, 24 days reached 95 degrees or hotter at the San Bernardino airport. After workers confronted managers about dangerous heat conditions, Amazon created an additional rest area to counter heat. Unsafe heat conditions remain in many work areas, and workers are demanding additional protections.

“Working in the heat feels like you are suffocating.. You need to take breaks and you can overheat really easily. They don’t make it easy to take breaks to allow your body to cool down,” said Melissa Ojeda, who has worked at the facility for more than a year. 

The facility, also known as KSBD, is a critical leg in the Amazon logistics network and is the largest air facility on the West Coast and one of only three “air hubs” nationally.

Workers submitted a petition to the management of the air freight facility during Prime Week in July. In part the petition said “We as Amazon Associates work hard to ensure that the building hits the numbers it strives for and work together in order to provide satisfaction to all of our customers. The average rent in California is $1,700 and the average rent in San Bernardino is $1,650. With our current starting pay of $17/hr in a 40 hour work week, we make approximately $2,200 take home pay– meaning that over 75% of our income is going into rent alone….We can barely afford to live in today’s economy.”

“I would like this job to be long term. If workers are heard and there is a change, we can make it a good place to work,” said Daniel Rivera, an associate at the warehouse for over a year. 

The facility opened in March 2021 amidst community concern and opposition around job quality and air pollution. A 2018 study found that even before this facility opened, Amazon’s flights into and out of airports in Riverside and San Bernardino counties released an estimated 620,000 metric tons of CO2 into the atmosphere. The two counties also have the worst ozone pollution in the US, largely due to the warehousing industry.

Amazon promised quality jobs, but has failed to deliver. Since the opening, workers have organized in response to low pay, illness-inducing heat, and brutal working conditions. In addition to a new rest area, workers have also won an increase in pay for night shifts.

The warehouse is located at the former Norton Air Force Base. Amazon currently operates 14 flights a day in and out of the 24-hour facility. Amazon has said its goal is to operate 26 flights a day. The number of workers at the warehouse fluctuates, currently about 1,300 but more than 1,800 in peak season, demonstrating the lack of stability in these Amazon jobs.

The Inland Empire Amazon Workers United is supported by the Warehouse Worker Resource Center and many community-based organizations in the Inland Empire including Inland Congregations United for Change, Inland Empire Labor Council, Sierra Club San Gorgonio and the People’s Collective for Environmental Justice. 

###

About the WWRC

The Warehouse Worker Resource Center is a nonprofit, 501(c)(3), organization founded in 2011 dedicated to improving working conditions in the warehouse industry in Southern California. We focus on education, advocacy and action to change poor working conditions in the largest warehousing hub in the country.

Filed Under: Featured, Press Releases

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WWRC Testifies Before U.S. House Subcommittee on Workforce Protections

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Workers Strike Amazon Air Hub in San Bernardino

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Amazon Warehouse Workers Document Extreme Temperatures in Western Air Hub, Demand Safety Protections

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