Amazon Workers in Southern California Strike for $5 Hourly Raise
Dozens of Amazon.com Inc. workers at a Southern California air hub walked off the job Friday demanding raises of $5 per hour and better working conditions, the latest sign of employee unrest for the online retailer.
The workers, carrying red signs that said “Beware Amazon Air” and chanting “living wages now,” marched in front of the facility in San Bernardino, California, about 60 miles (96 km) east of Lost Angeles. The one-day strike at the facility, which employs more than 1,500 people, followed summer protests that also raised the issues of pay and working conditions.
Workers said they gave Amazon an Oct. 10 deadline to meet their demand for raises that would increase the starting wage at the facility to about $22 per hour. Daniel Rivera, 28, who participated in the strike, said he received a $1 per hour raise in September that pushed his hourly earnings to $18.50.
“Even with the dollar raise, it's not a livable wage for us,” he said. Many of the workers at the site load and unload cargo planes.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant is fending off union campaigns around the country. Earlier this week, Amazon workers at a warehouse in Moreno Valley, California -- about 20 miles from the San Bernardino air hub -- filed paperwork to join the upstart Amazon Labor Union. Workers at a Staten Island warehouse in New York voted in April to join the union, but the company is seeking to overturn the results. On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board is scheduled to tally votes to determine if workers at an Amazon warehouse near Albany, New York, will form a local affiliated with the Amazon Labor Union.
Amazon said wages at its US facilities range from $16 to $26 an hour depending on position and location. Employee
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