Days after Amazon's largest sale of the year, Prime Day, Amazon workers organizing with the Teamsters at the company's major air hub in Southern California walked off the job Sunday in an unfair labor practice (ULP) strike over retaliation workers have faced for union organizing. The KSBD warehouse in San Bernardino is a crucial cog in Amazon's logistics network and the largest air facility on the West Coast.
"We're on strike to send a message to Amazon: treat your workers with the respect and dignity we deserve," said Anna Ortega, an Amazon air hub worker organizing with the Teamsters. "Amazon is one of the most profitable companies in the world, but it consistently treats its workers like trash. We are standing up for our right to organize and to fight for a better future at Amazon."
The strike takes place as Amazon workers continue to fulfill customer orders from Prime Day. KSBD has been a hotbed for Amazon workers organizing with the Teamsters. Workers have led numerous walkouts and strikes over Amazon's unfair labor practices and petitioned management for higher wages, heat safety measures, and safer working conditions, among other key priorities.
"The workers now on strike have the full support of more than a million Teamsters nationwide," said Randy Korgan, Director of the Teamsters Amazon Division. "Amazon has no respect for the wellbeing of the workers who make its profits possible, and San Bernardino workers have sent a clear message to these corporate criminals that they've had enough."
The walkout in San Bernardino comes as Amazon workers nationwide organize in droves in a fight for better pay, safer working conditions, and a voice on the job, including Amazon Teamsters from Palmdale, California and Skokie, Illinois, who are currently on strike and extending their picket line to facilities across the country.
"If Amazon is going to retaliate against us for organizing, then we are going to hit the streets," said Regina Herrmann, an Amazon air hub worker organizing with the Teamsters. "Amazon workers are responsible for Amazon's huge profits, especially during Prime Day. We are united and ready to exert our collective power."
About Teamsters
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information.