The first thing I noticed when I got to work at Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island one day in August was the revolting smell. It was like something had died. It turned out a major sewage leak had started hours earlier, and human waste was everywhere, even bubbling up from the floor.
Managers opened the windows, but the heat was making the smell unbearable. We were getting headaches, and some people fell ill.
With the help and coordination of our union—the Teamsters—JFK8 workers flooded the company’s internal complaint system with calls to shut the building down. We marched on managers in person to demand they close the facility. Eight hours after the sewage leak was discovered, the company sent us home.
Only an unmitigated disaster and strong collective action could draw out a humane response from Amazon.
I’ve worked at JFK8 for four years, an especially long time in the high turnover world of Amazon. What happened that day is just the latest in a string of horrible experiences that my co-workers and I have had to endure. That’s why we’re part of the growing group of Amazon workers demanding better treatment and working conditions by organizing with the Teamsters.
Unsafe conditions are routine at Amazon despite the company’s immense wealth. And I really mean immense: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, for example, pocketed more than $38 million last year in vested stock alone. Meanwhile, the firm’s median worker pay stands at just $37,181. In our building, conveyor belts often lack protective guards. People get scratched, bruised, and injured all the time. I’ve hurt my shoulder more than once from repetitive strain. I’ve got scars I can’t even trace to one moment. They just accumulate day after day in a workplace that treats us like parts in a machine.
Being in the Teamsters empowers us to fight back and command respect. Besides getting the building closed after the sewage disaster, our union has helped bring back wrongfully terminated workers, including me, in addition to improving workplace safety. We have also pushed management to approve safer headphones so we’re not stuck listening to loud conveyor belts all day. And we secured better interpretation for our co-workers who are deaf or hard-of-hearing.
We’re not alone at JFK8. All across the country, Amazon Teamsters are demanding better treatment and safer conditions. In San Bernardino, Calif., we forced the company to send everyone home with pay to protect workers from the wildfires. In nearby Victorville, Amazon Teamsters secured winter coats after a march on the boss. And in Atlanta, San Francisco, and Florence, Ky., Amazon warehouse workers like me are winning safer working conditions and better pay by organizing with the Teamsters.
That’s what unionizing does—it empowers you. It connects you to a common cause. It reminds you that you’re not alone, even in a place like Amazon that tries to divide us.
I’m proud of what we’ve done at JFK8, and I’m proud to be part of something bigger than myself. With every victory, no matter how large or small, we’re taking another step toward fairness and justice at Amazon.
We’re the reason Amazon is a $2 trillion global company. We’re the ones who work nights, weekends, and holidays to ensure those smiley packages arrive on time, even if Amazon couldn’t care less how we feel. We deserve better jobs and better lives. We’re fighting for them every day, and we’re never backing down.
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