In a letter to shareholders, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos promised to make his company “Earth’s Safest Place to Work.” On Prime Day, workers said he hasn’t come close.
Monday was Prime Day, if you’re a regular consumer. Below-market deals, deals for less than Amazon’s usual cheap prices abounded. While people were filling their online carts on the retail site, labor unions in the United States and around the world wanted to remind the public where their loyalties should lie.
“Amazon has been called out all over the world for its unacceptable health and safety record and its working conditions for its employees,” stated Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum. “And Prime Day only makes everything much worse for these workers. During Prime Day, workers across the world are forced to work mandatory overtime, oftentimes in extreme temperature conditions, and at an often unattainable pace that results in injuries.”
Appelbaum and company have seen the fight against Amazon’s labor practices firsthand.
After attempting to organize workers in the hopes of being recognized, and setting the stage for collective bargaining, RWDSU members made their way to Bessemer, Ala. where workers at a wish fulfillment center vented about low wages and lack of benefits. After the vote failed, union leaders said Amazon purposely had a collection/mailbox installed in front of the facility and had security cameras monitoring the collection box for votes. They also, allegedly, pressured workers into bringing their ballots to work and dropping them in the collection boxes the company established.
RWDSU officials filed a complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) challenging the results and accusing Amazon of violating parts of the National Labor Relations Act. There’s still no ruling from the NLRB on the complaint.
The AmNews contacted Amazon multiple times for comment but were unsuccessful. However, in February the AmNews was emailed what company representatives referred to as their “general statement on the Bessemer situation” stating that the RWDSU doesn’t represent the views of Bessemer employees and that they already provide great benefits.
“We opened this site in March and since that time have created more than 5,000 full-time jobs in Bessemer, with starting pay of $15.30 per hour, including full health care, vision and dental insurance, 50% 401(K) match from the first day on the job in safe, innovative, inclusive environments, with training, continuing education, and long-term career growth,” said Amazon’s Heather Knox. “We work hard to support our teams and more than 90% of associates at our Bessemer site say they would recommend Amazon as a good place to work to their friends.”
In March, the House voted in favor of the Protect the Right To Organize (PRO) Act. Details included forbidding employer interference and influence in union elections (like what happened at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer), barring employers from using a worker’s immigration status against them, and allowing unions to override state laws that let workers opt-out of the union but still receive the same benefits.
Other countries were on the protest train this week for Prime Day.
A German trade union named Verdi organized a three-day strike against Amazon, which began on Prime Day. Workers from seven different warehouses in the country are also fighting for better wages and benefits.
“While Amazon fuels bargain hunting on Prime Day with hefty discounts, employees are being deprived of a living wage,” Verdi representative Orhan Akman said in a statement to EuroNews. “The company must finally recognise the collective wage agreements for the retail and mail order sectors. Wages and salaries at Amazon must no longer be determined in the style of a lord of the manor.”
Verdi has organized several strikes against the retailer going back to 2013 pushing for an improvement in wages and benefits. Germany is also the second biggest market for Amazon after the United States.
Locally, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio used Prime Day to direct consumers’ focus to mom-and-pop stores that need their business much more than Amazon does.
During Monday’s news briefing, the mayor said that Prime Day was a perfect day “not to shop Amazon” and to instead look at patronizing businesses in their area.
“While Amazon has gotten richer and richer that our workers have not,” said de Blasio. “At Amazon’s warehouses in Staten Island, JFK8 warehouses, Staten Island’s largest private employer. We appreciate that. What we don’t appreciate is repeated efforts by Amazon to stop unionization by the workers. That is not fair. That’s not respecting the democratic rights of those workers. Amazon literally made record profits last year, but they don’t seem to want to share them with working people.
“So, to me, a real prime shopper keeps it local, keeps the money in our neighborhoods, helps working people directly, doesn’t put the money in the pockets of Amazon.”
Appelbaum suggested that all the fighting and the difficulties go away if Amazon does right by its employees instead of fighting them tooth and nail over better wages and benefits.
“Critically, Amazon needs to start listening to the concerns of its workers, instead of trying to crush their efforts to have a collective voice about their own health and safety through a union,” said Appelbaum. “Amazon must stop its virulent union busting and allow its workers to organize, without employer interference, so that they can address worker protections not just for Prime Day, but every day.”