Thousands of warehouse and delivery workers continue the largest strike in US Amazon history, which aims to draw the country’s attention to alleged unfair labor practices (UPL), high levels of injuries and a petition for better wages and benefits.
There are 194 Amazon facilities where the work stoppage broke out since December 20, four of them in Southern California: the direct logistics center of Victorville, City of Industry, Palmdale and San Bernardino.
“If your package is delayed during the December holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” said Sean M. O’Brien, general president of the Truckers, on his visit to the Amazon facility in Industry.
“We gave Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table [a negociar] and do the right thing by our members. “They ignored her,” he said. “These greedy executives had every opportunity to show decency and respect for the people who make their obscene profits possible. Instead, they have pushed workers to the limit and are now paying the price. “This blow is for them.”
The International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which represents 1.3 million workers in the United States, Canada and Puerto Rico, voted to authorize strikes in New York, Illinois, Atlanta and San Francisco.
The move came after Amazon ignored last Sunday’s deadline to come to the negotiating table.
Eileen Hards, an Amazon spokeswoman in San Bernardino, said in a statement that for more than a year, truckers “have continued to intentionally mislead the public, claiming they represent ‘thousands of Amazon employees and drivers’ when they do not.” .
“The truth is that the Teamsters have actively threatened, intimidated, and attempted to coerce Amazon employees and third-party drivers to join them, which is illegal and is the subject of multiple pending unfair lawsuits and labor practices charges against the Teamsters. union,” Hards said.
He sold his blood to survive
According to the workers, Amazon does not recognize as its workers employees who wear their uniforms, drive their vehicles, deliver their packages and receive their paychecks from this company. They are outsourced.
Amazon is the second largest corporation on the Fortune 500 list. Despite being worth more than $2 trillion, the company does not pay its workers enough to make ends meet, union members denounced.
“In order to survive I have had to sell plasma,” said Jesse Moreno, who lives in Upland and who is part of a strike declared 18 months ago at Amazon in Palmdale.
Moreno, father of two daughters, ages six and two, complained that Amazon “does not recognize us as its employees.”
“Everything we do is for this company; They give us the routes, the packages and yet they do not want to accept that we work for them,” he added.
The young Amazon driver told La Opinión that his salary of $19.50 an hour for a year is not enough for him.
“There were months when I had to donate plasma first,” he revealed. “The money was not enough to feed my children; That’s why I later sold my blood every two weeks.”
In principle, the “promotion” of the first four times of plasma donation earned him $500.00. Afterwards, he only received $50.00.
“White collar criminal”
Despite being worth more than $2 billion, the company owned by billionaire Jeff Bezos does not pay its workers enough to make ends meet, according to union members.
The company announced plans to raise wages for its subcontracted drivers to $22 an hour following union pressure. However, Teamsters or truckers who drive for UPS earn an average of $49 per hour.
“We are full of courage and conviction,” said Sean M. O’Brien. “Now, every day we face the biggest white-collar corporate criminal.”
O’Brien accepted that during the work stoppage “there will be some pain and some sacrifice.”
“We can take a little short-term pain for a long-term game,” said the union leader, who personally came to support the International Brotherhood of Teamsters workers. “We had a great leader, Randy Corrigan [quien falleció en mayo de 2024]and the whole country is watching our fight, but the most important thing is that you have the courage and conviction to win this fight and every day you have to recruit someone else.”
The Teamsters union has focused primarily on organizing the 10,000 employees who work for contractors handling Amazon deliveries. This figure is a small part of Amazon’s 1.5 million workers.
The hardships of a mother of five daughters
Vanessa Valdez, an Amazon driver and mother of five daughters, told La Opinión that, although work helps her stay active at 44 years old, as a mother and grandmother, “the workload has increased substantially in the last six years.” ”.
He revealed that due to overwork, he has never taken a sick day because he doesn’t have one.
She, who is a resident of the city of Ontario, earns $22.75 and aspires to earn the $49.00 that UPS employees earn for the same work she does.
“The union has given me hope to be able to afford the little things in life,” she said. “That is, taking my daughters to the carnivals that happen in the city, and not having to save for months to take them to the movies or simply have time to pick them up after school.”
Vanessa laments that, as an older woman, she has not been able to have a photo taken with her daughters at school, due to her job.
“I have had to say no to school, because I can’t pay for my daughters’ portraits and they have to tear them up,” she said. “But when we win this fight, I will be able to sit back and smile and see myself surrounded by my daughters, knowing that I will be able to afford those little things that make life precious.”
Víctor Mineros, secretary-treasurer of Teamsters Local 396, who began his career as a UPS truck driver, participating in the historic UPS strike of 1997, told La Opinión that Amazon drivers have suffered many accidents.
“Amazon is one of the companies where there are the most injuries,” he said.
Indeed, Amazon workers account for 36% of all warehouse employees in the United States, but more than 53% of workplace injuries. The report states “In Denial: Amazon’s Continued Failure to Fix Its Injury Crisis.”
“Workers are getting sick because of the psychological pressure placed on them when they don’t deliver packages on time,” Mineros said. “This pressure is not only making our colleagues sick but also their families.”