Amazon workers learned that two employees tested positive for COVID-19 yet Amazon refuses to shut down the warehouse and do a deep cleaning. Amazon Distribution Workers at 28th and Western on Chicago’s South-Side at 6:45 am April 4, 2020 staged a wildcat strike.
From the workers Facebook page DCH1 Amazonians United:
Amazon DCH1 workers went on Safety Strike for the fourth time this week, demanding that Amazon shut DCH1 down for 14 days, with pay for ALL workers. This is a fight for our lives, we're not playing. Many coworkers who were going into work decided to join the strike instead! We were standing in front of our facility, chanting and with our signs, then management came out and threatened us. We tried talking to them about our concerns, but they would just continue threatening us and ignoring our voices. Then, all of a sudden, over 50 cars started rollin thru infront of Amazon!
We didn't know what was going on then we saw they were driving through in solidarity with us!
It was like a huge caravan driving up and down the street,honking and in support of our Safety Strike. Some of the signs they had was #PrimememberCaravan #PrimeMemberSolidarity and #CommunitySolidarity amongst many others. Amazon called the cops and they came real quick and started harassing all the drivers of these cars, threatening them with tickets andbanging on their windows. We saw real clearly today that police were there to protect Amazon management and Amazon's profits. But Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez for the 25th Ward / Alderman Byron Sigcho Lopez 25th Ward Office and his powerful wife Loreen Targos stood there right alongside us, in full support of our demands, and they definitely made the police chill as much as they could cuz the cops were trying to give everyone tickets. Other Alderman and politicians should take notes.
We appreciate your solidarity from the bottom of our hearts Byron and Loreen!!
Management was trying to hurry and send the Amazon vans out, but Amazon drivers couldn't exit Amazon to start their deliveries cuz the street was so full! Our managers, who wouldn't even look at our demands or hear our concerns, came out and started telling the police what to do, as if the police were a part of Amazon management, and the police obeyed.
Amazon drivers, stuck in the driveway, came out of their vansand they were in complete support of our safety strike. Many Amazon drivers hadn't even been told by management that there are now multiple confirmed positive coronavirus cases at DCH1. They were angered to hear that their health was being endangered too, and we told them we're demanding a shut down for 2 weeks with pay for us all, including drivers! Drivers are hired through independent contractors, but Amazon does that purposefully so that they could exploit the drivers more easily. We are demanding that DCH1 shut down and pay us all for 2 weeks of quarantine, including the drivers, the cleaning crew, and all the workers that make Amazon run. This is just the beginning, we won't back down,workers everywhere are rising up, and the community is self-organizing and coming through in solidarity! Our movement grows, solidarity grows, worker power grows!