Amazon workers at an air-freight hub walked out in protest over pay and sweltering temperatures

[Omaha Steve]

Source: Business Insider

Isobel Asher Hamilton

Workers at an Amazon air freight hub in San Bernardino, California walked off the job Monday demanding better pay and working conditions.

The protesting workers form a group called Inland Empire Amazon Workers United, which said on Twitter 160 workers walked off the job Monday.

An Amazon spokesperson disputed this figure in a quote to The Washington Post, saying only 74 workers took part in the walkout.

The group delivered a letter signed by 800 employees in July to management at the facility asking for better pay given the increasing cost of living.

FULL title: Amazon workers at an air-freight hub walked out in protest over pay and sweltering temperatures on the job


Read more: https://www.businessinsider.com/amazon-air-freight-workers-walk-off-job-protest-pay-heat-2022-8

[Ziggysmom]

1. While Bezos makes billions untaxed, workers suffer. Screw Amazon! What nerve! Telling the

employees to buckle down instead of paying a living wage. I refuse to support Bezos, I'd rather pay more elsewhere than shop on Amazon.

"The outlet also said managers suggested workers take public transport and carpool to cut costs."

[CrispyQ]

2. 95 degrees

The protesting workers also want Amazon to bulk up its health and safety, especially with regards to heat. On Twitter, the group said temperatures can rise above 95 degrees in the facility.

An Amazon spokesperson told The Post the facility has indoor air conditioning.

95°? WTF? Do they not turn the AC on?

[mopinko]

3. it's rly hard to cool a building where trucks are being unloaded.

you cant cool a loading dock.

[Karma13612]

6. Unless we designed special

Sealed Loading docks with openings that the back end of the trailer can slide into. Special gaskets surrounding the opening could adjust to fit various sized trailers. It is sealed to the outside atmosphere and temperature. The driver(s) enter a door next to the opening, they can unpack the trailer from the inside where it is temperature controlled. And the employees who work at the site are not exposed to the outside temps at all.

America was built on ingenuity. We need to get back to that. And with the temperatures getting extreme, we need to consider alternatives to the current way of doing things. It would help in the winter as well. It would be a temperature controlled environment year round.

[mopinko]

8. air locks, yes.

def needed as temps rise, but neither easy to design or build. and then you have to train the employees not to short circuit the whole thing cuz it's a bother to open and close all those doors.

[Karma13612]

10. The employees have an incentive

To keep the doors SHUT if they want to keep themselves and their fellow employees happy.

I agree that all this is disruptive and expensive. Companies like Amazon have the capital, they just need a swift kick in the ass to give them the incentive.

I think it would be fairly easy to design. If we can put spaceships into space, and build the Webb telescope, we can build air locks-style loading dock assemblies for terre-firma.

[mopinko]

12. except that they're under so much time pressure....

[Karma13612]

14. I'm missing your point. I understand time pressure.

What does that have to do with respecting that doors need to be shut?

I am not talking about someone going in and out of a door for unloading. I am talking about doors shut, the loading crew work from the inside to unload the truck which has been backed-up and the entrance is INSIDE the building. Like an air-lock. Everything happens inside. No reason to be opening and closing doors.

[mopinko]

17. i'm talking about unloading the trucks.

even if the bay is airlocked, you still have to move the stuff into the warehouse. best you can do in the truck bay is lower it about 10 degrees, i'd think.
refrigerated and frozen stuff means cold rooms. every trip through a door, whether it's an automated door or whatever, is time. those vinyl strip curtain only do so much and if there's constant traffic through them, they're worthless.
maybe there's a solution out there already but it's complex problem.

[FoxNewsSucks]

9. It wouldn't need to be that elaborate

Most grocery stores have loading doors which block out most of the outside air while a truck is backed up for delivery. It's not a hermetic seal like an airlock, but it does keep the heat/cold out of the stockroom.

[Karma13612]

11. OK!!!!!!There ya go!!!!!!

It’s rare that I actually mentally invent something that doesn’t already exist.

I had forgotten about those!


We just need that concept/design/capability to be used at these air-hubs or anywhere that trucks unload. It will need to become the norm as our climate becomes more extreme, and you have humans working. Which is basically everywhere!

Thanks!

Now, lets get a memo to Jeff. He obviously needs a kick in the ass.

[mopinko]

18. we're talking about a much, much higher volume than that tho,

and a merciless time clock. it's a knotty problem.

[Magoo48]

4. Money and creative ingenuity could make these workers safer and more comfortable.

Higher pay could ease the burdens on their families.

Workers Unite! Union Strong!

[Karma13612]

5. I suppose Bezos has OSHA

In his back pocket?

Otherwise, OSHA needs to pay them a visit. I imagine it’s one of those huge big-box warehouse type structures with rows of shelving units piled high with all of the products we can’t wait to own (I among them).

I understand why we hate Amazon and Bezos. He.Is.Evil.

But, as with WalMart, many of us live in very rural areas and NEVER get near stores that carry all the products we might need. At prices that are reasonable. Living on a fixed income or trying to save for retirement, you need to save where you can.

I suggest we push harder to demand our government agencies help by better over-site. I bet you a million that OSHA is underfunded the way the IRS is/was. There need to be compliance officers who go in and inspect these distribution/air hubs. There need to be solutions because just boycotting big business does not seem work. They look at their profits and say, well, a million less customers (or whatever the actual metric would be) doesn’t matter. I still make obscene amounts of money.

Our Federal and State agencies which were created to keep businesses safe and honest, which are there to keep our food safe and our working environments humane, which are there to keep illegal guns off the street, to keep tax frauds at bay, and nearly every thing else that impacts the voters, should be robust.

I am tired of companies getting away with shit. But, we can’t keep just boycotting. We need better enforcement, and no more ‘looking the other way’. We need to press our elected officials to investigate, review and if needed BETTER FUND these agencies. Hire, fire, promote, and smoke out any dead wood that isn’t working towards a common goal of protecting the American public.

[Locrian]

13. We need better enforcement

exactly - its the only "checks and balances". We need to get corporate out of GOV and let gov regulate and enforce.
There is no way business are going to just do it "out of the goodness of their hearts".

[Karma13612]

15. Yup, that's why I went on my little rant about

Making sure our regulatory agencies are fully staffed and funded. We need more boots on the ground for proper enforcement.

I think we just made great strides with staffing-up the IRS. Now we need to do it to OSHA and others that are truly hurting.

[Farmer-Rick]

7. Bezos has enough money to feed the entire world

And he can't even pay a decent wage. What a greedy little prick.

[Karma13612]

16. Right with you there. Eom