Why Amazon warehouse workers walked off the job in San Bernardino

Warehouse staff at Amazon’s largest air freight facility on the West Coast walked off the job Monday, demanding larger pay and aid from scorching situations they are saying are unsafe.

Organizers with a bunch referred to as Inland Empire Amazon Employees United stated in a Fb submit that 160 workers walked out on the San Bernardino Worldwide Airport facility, which is a crucial a part of Amazon’s logistics community and one of many firm’s three U.S. “air hubs.”

About 900 workers on the San Bernardino airport have signed a petition calling for base pay to be elevated from $17 per hour to $22 per hour, Inland Empire Amazon Employees United stated in a press release.

“Amazon may ship the next commonplace for staff, however they don’t,” stated Sara Charge, who has labored on the air hub because it opened in March 2021. “A warehouse is only a warehouse. An organization is only a firm. The persons are what makes all of it work, and we’re robust and united to combat for what we deserve.”

Amazon is the most important non-public sector employer within the Inland Empire, organizers stated. Of the greater than 200,000 warehouse staff within the area, 1 in 5 work at Amazon amenities.

“Amazon promised the Inland Empire high quality jobs,” organizers stated in one other Fb submit. “They didn’t ship. Amazon has pressured us to work in excessive warmth, barely paid us sufficient to afford lease, and now we’re being retaliated in opposition to for talking up.”

Employees submitted a petition calling for pay will increase throughout Amazon’s Prime Week gross sales occasion in July, in accordance with the assertion.

Within the petition, workers stated staff making $17 per hour and dealing 40 hours per week take residence about $2,200 per 30 days, however the common lease in California is $1,700 and the typical in San Bernardino is $1,650, “which means that over 75% of our earnings goes to lease alone.”

“We are able to barely afford to reside in at present’s financial system,” the petition stated.

The employees additionally expressed involved about unsafe working situations attributable to extreme warmth.

Throughout July, temperatures reached at the least 95 levels on the airport on 24 days, organizers stated.

When workers confronted managers, Amazon created a further relaxation space, however unsafe situations stay “in lots of work areas,” in accordance with the assertion.

“Working within the warmth appears like you might be suffocating,” stated Melissa Ojeda, who has labored on the facility for greater than a yr. “You want to take breaks and you’ll overheat actually simply. They don’t make it simple to take breaks to permit your physique to chill down.”

When the San Bernardino air hub opened final yr, organizers stated, some locally raised considerations in regards to the high quality of jobs on the facility and its results on air air pollution.

A 2018 research discovered that Amazon’s flights into and out of airports in Riverside and San Bernardino counties launched about 620,000 metric tons of carbon dioxide into the ambiance and that the 2 counties had the worst ozone air pollution within the nation, air pollution that was largely attributed to the warehousing trade, in accordance with Amazon Employees United’s assertion.

Amazon operates 14 flights per day out and in of the 24-hour facility on the location of the previous Norton Air Power Base, the organizers stated.

“Amazon has stated its aim is to function 26 flights a day,” they stated. “The variety of staff on the warehouse fluctuates, at the moment about 1,300 however greater than 1,800 in peak season, demonstrating the shortage of stability in these Amazon jobs.”

Amazon spokespeople didn’t reply to a request from The Occasions for remark.