The next day the Amazonians United group launched one of the first worker petitions of the COVID-19 crisis, an international petition under the slogan “We Keep Us Safe.” They demanded personal protective equipment (PPE), hazard pay, childcare support, and sick pay for all Amazon workers who fell ill—positive test or not.
The demands were widely felt. The petition connected with Amazon workers across the world, who even prior to the crisis acknowledged that Amazon did not value their lives, instead treating people like disposable robots. By mid-April over 5,000 workers had signed the petition. Workers across the network refused to show up to work, taking unpaid time off instead. Others continued to work, putting their safety and lives at risk.
The petition articulated the anger of many, but worker-leaders realized that to win protections, they needed to escalate. Organized and spontaneous walkouts emerged across the network. In Chicago, DCH1 Amazonians United organized several strikes with participation from the majority of a shift. They worked in conjunction with community supporters to demand that Amazon “shut it down, clean it up.” The DCH1 organizing committee was able to stage these strikes because they had built solidarity, trust, and collective action over the previous year, taking on several fights to improve workplace conditions. With each subsequent fight, they grew in number and boldness.
FIGHTING RETALIATIONS
In centers where Amazonians United locals have grown and strengthened over the past year, harassment, intimidation, and enforcement of infractions have also escalated. But despite frequent pickets, collective confrontations with management, and strike actions, management has been very cautious about firing workers at these centers.
When management struck back in Chicago, DCH1 Amazonians United filed seven unfair labor practice (ULP) claims and started an anti-retaliation petition. When management claims such demands come from an outside organization, those allegations fall flat. Worker-leaders are safer when management knows that firing them can lead to coordinated escalated actions.
And we know we can’t do it on our own. Amazonians United organizers are fighting in solidarity with other workers facing retaliation. Recently we participated in a live-streamed sick-out organized by fired members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, which gave headquarters tech workers the chance to hear directly about conditions in the warehouses. Actions like these moved even a vice president, one of 20 “Distinguished Engineers” in the entire company, to resign in solidarity.
We are also working alongside Amazon workers in other countries under the banner Amazon Workers International (AWI). In light of the retaliations, AWI published an open letter to Jeff Bezos in six languages and a comic strip in nine, while German shop stewards began a campaign for freedom of speech on the job, echoing a slogan from the tech workers, “Stop firing, start listening.”
LESSONS LEARNED
Based on these experiences, we would point to the following lessons as more Amazon warehouse workers begin organizing for protections.
- 1) Build Deep: The power workers have comes from our ability to stand together and demonstrate solidarity. Start with building a team—an organizing committee (OC)— first gathering people who want to make a change and who you trust. The more your team gets people from different departments and different social groups, the better.
- 2) Inoculate: Having fear of taking action together is normal. Most of us have never done it before, either accepting things as they are or believing nothing can change. Communicate with your coworkers that if only one person speaks out, they are more at risk, but when organized we are stronger against management's attacks. Let them know that management will crack down, and we have to have each other's backs.
- 3) Take Action Together: A petition with widely felt demands is a great way to start. It helps you to have conversations with coworkers, shows coworkers that many people want the same things, and helps build unity and confidence.
Use the petition to build your organization by asking if people are willing to take action with you. Set goals for signatures. When you hit your goal, deliver your petition to management as a crew.
We prefer delivering the petitions during “stand-up,” the pre-shift meetings led by management. This allows you to issue demands directly to management in front of your coworkers. Managers may demand you to speak to them one at a time, to sow division. Stand strong as a group. This demonstrates unity, and that when one person speaks, they speak for an organized group.
Sometimes we may have the urge to speak out individually or lead an action as a courageous leader; this makes it easier for management to isolate leaders and fire them, leading to an organization without a head.
- 4) Constantly Find New Solid OC Members: Build out your Organizing Committee with people who are respected by others, which can then bring more cautious people onto your team. The more committed people in your organization, the more the managers will be hesitant to retaliate against any particular person. Be the many-headed beast.
- 5) Build Solidarity with Other Sites: Reach out to Amazonians United through our Facebook page. We can provide coaching on how to develop your OC. In our fight to win paid time off, workers from Sacramento and Chicago connected over Facebook to build a shared campaign. When you start your own Amazonians United local, we can connect our struggles together.
- 6) Fight Amazon’s B.S.: As our strength builds, we need to take more control over our work. Amazon can set up work in a way where they can use little things that normally are not a punishable offense for bogus write-ups. Fight these.
As you build your organization, you can also use legal strategies to defend yourself, including unfair labor practices. Bosses are used to being dictators; when we assert our rights, we challenge the undemocratic order they uphold. Reach out to Amazonians United and we can coach you.
By following the steps above, Amazon workers can act on the principle that a harm to one is a harm to all.
Remember this crucial fact: a union is nothing more than you and your coworkers coming together to make change. By building the union together with our coworkers, we aim to have control over our organization, our workplaces, and our lives, ensuring a future where we are respected as people and thrive together. Amazon bosses will do everything in their power to keep us separated and feeling powerless. But together we keep us safe.
This work is not easy, but it’s worth it to stand up for what’s right. Amazonians United organizers are here to coach you and your coworkers. Reach out via email at [email protected], through filling out this form, or on Facebook, and join the movement!