Dozens of workers, activist groups, and union members flooded the streets near Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ $80 million Manhattan penthouse on Cyber Monday to protest working conditions at the billion-dollar company. Protestors held signs reading “Amazon HURTS WORKING PEOPLE” and “Amazon Delivers Broken Hearts And Broken Families.”
Workers marched in the snow and shouted: “If we don’t get it, shut it down.”
The New York rally was one of several Amazon workers held around the country to demand the company increase wages, cut ties with Immigration and Customs Enforcement and curb pollution it’s accused of causing in black and brown communities. The Muslim-led grassroots movement MPower Change said in a tweet Monday to Bezos that “just one click on @Amazon sets off a rush to deliver packages that results in thousands of vehicles polluting Black + brown communities.”
An Amazon worker who organized 600 fellow employees said conditions at the company are so harsh that “workers are scared to drink water, scared to take breaks to use the restroom,” according to a tweet Felicia Martinez, a Brooklyn mother, shared Monday.
The nonprofit New York Communities for Change shared a similar tweet Monday of a quote from former Staten Island Amazon worker Hiba. “No human should be treated like a robot,” the ex-employee said. “We shouldn’t have to worry about going to the bathroom or resting our bodies.”
Protests have drawn the attention of activists and legislators alike. “I'm standing in solidarity with Amazon workers protesting its inhumane practices. We won’t back down,” Rep. Ilhan Omar tweeted Monday. “Amazon must treat its workers with dignity, end its ICE and police partnerships, and stop polluting communities of color. ✊🏽“
When she mentions the company's police partnership, Omar is referring to a partnership between the Ring home security company, which Amazon owns, and more than 400 police forces. That partnership allows Ring customers to turn over footage the security system captures to police, according to The Washington Post. That’s as good as a statement from Amazon because guess who owns the Post? That’s right, Bezos.
Of course, the actual Amazon news release about Cyber Monday focused on sales and boasted that Monday was “once again the single biggest shopping day in the company’s history, based on the number of items ordered worldwide.” The only actual mention of employees in the release came from Amazon’s Worldwide Consumer CEO Jeff Wilke, who thanked them and customers “for making this holiday shopping weekend the best yet.”
Meanwhile, across the country workers weren’t so jolly. San Bernardino area residents said Amazon has a “stranglehold on working-class communities” across San Bernardino and Riverside counties. “San Bernardino and Riverside counties have more large Amazon facilities than any other metropolitan area,” a San Bernardino coalition tweeted Monday, “and yet: The region has the worst smog pollution in the country. 6 in 10 jobs don’t pay enough for working families trying to make ends meet.”
Protestors rallied to solidify a community agreement for a proposed regional air hub believed to be in development for Amazon operations, according to San Bernardino Airport Communities. “Residents are asking that the retail giant come to a binding agreement on guaranteed living-wage jobs with good working conditions, as well as strong air pollution reduction plans at the proposed facility [called “Eastgate”],” the coalition said on its website.