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.