New York Amazon Workers Demand Paid Juneteenth Holiday

Six hundred of our Amazon co-workers at five warehouses around New York signed a petition demanding starting wages of $25 an hour, time-and-a-half pay for Prime Day (July 16-17), seasonal workers converted to permanent status within 30 days of employment, and Juneteenth as a paid holiday.

The June 19 holiday celebrates the end of slavery in the U.S. and became a federal holiday in 2021—the first new federal holiday since Martin Luther King Jr. Day was recognized in 1983.

We organized petitions across five warehouses: sort center LDJ5 on Staten Island, where packages are routed to local facilities; the massive fulfillment centers JFK8 on Staten Island and SWF1 in the Hudson Valley, where customer orders are packed; and delivery stations DBK4 and DNJ3 in Queens and the Bronx, where packages are put into delivery vehicles and dispatched to mailboxes or doorsteps.

At the smaller delivery stations with only a couple hundred employees, nearly half the workers signed. And at four of the five warehouses, groups of workers have delivered the petition to Amazon management. (See a video montage of the petition deliveries.)

COORDINATING ACROSS WORKPLACES

We began planning the petition in the New York region through what we call the Amazon Workers Summit, a loose network of workplace committees across New York and New Jersey. Worker-leaders from each committee participated.

At the summit meetings, we discussed which issues were most important. We agreed on some common issues, and brought them back to our warehouse committees. Once all the committees agreed on the key demands, we launched petitions in each warehouse.

The main way we got signatures was just talking to people. Amazon treats us like numbers, but we’ve made it a point to get to know each other as co-workers and friends.

We made sure to have these conversations on non-work time and in non-work areas, so it was protected concerted activity under the National Labor Relations Act. We also made sure to reach out to all the different social groups in our warehouses, so the committee represented everyone.

We heard people's grievances and desires to make change. Many workers are going through the same kinds of struggles to make rent and cover groceries. We all want stability, economic security, and respect.

We connected those issues to what it would take to achieve change: collective action. By coming together, we felt less alone in our struggle to survive while working at Amazon.

JUNETEENTH HOLIDAY

Juneteenth became a symbol of respect. We pointed out to our co-workers that the federal government had recognized it as a holiday three years ago. Why not Amazon?

The company already recognizes July 4th to celebrate the freedom of the country, but it doesn’t honor a paid holiday to recognize the liberation of millions of enslaved people. This is an insult to the workers who share these roots.

Instead, Amazon pays lip service to Juneteenth by offering food at some warehouses and Juneteenth-themed pins—even while we have to work the holiday under bad conditions for low pay. The mismatch between what Amazon says and what it actually does makes the holiday an issue for many workers.

$25 AN HOUR

We made the case for hiking the minimum starting wage to $25, to combat the growing cost of living and attain economic stability.

Amazon recently hit $2 trillion in market value for the first time. Meanwhile we’re scraping by. Some co-workers live with their parents because they can’t afford to move out. For those of us with kids it’s even harder to pay for rent, groceries, and bills. Many people take second and third jobs to make ends meet.

We work hard and put our bodies on the line to the point of injury to generate Amazon’s lucrative profits. This is one of the biggest corporations in the world; it can afford to pay the living wage we’re demanding.

It can also afford to make workers permanent after 30 days. Most workers at Amazon are initially hired as seasonal; their white badges mark them as workers with no job security, who don’t get all the paid time off benefits that permanent “blue-badge” workers do.

Right now, Amazon can keep people in the white badge status for up to 11 months. They’re often fired after peak season.

ANOTHER CHRISTMAS

The next Prime Day sales rush is coming up July 16-17. Amazon promotes “Prime Day” as a time when customers can get great deals—but in our warehouses, these savings come at a steep cost.

It means we have to process even more packages in a tight timeframe to get them out for delivery. It’s like another Christmas, minus the snow and Santa Claus.

The grueling pace of work takes a toll on our bodies and well-being, so we deserve compensation during this intensified period—when we know Amazon is also making extra profits. Last year Amazon made $13 billion in sales on Prime Day, and that number has been growing every year.

PRIME TIME TO DROP OFF PETITIONS

These issues are widespread across Amazon facilities. Our next step was to ask our co-workers to do something about them: sign the petition and get involved in our organizing for the long haul.

Once we got enough signatures across all the warehouses, we delivered the petitions to management. In DBK4, we announced the petition at the morning stand-up meeting and handed out Juneteenth buttons on break. We then rallied everyone to join us during lunch in the break room, and walked with a group of 20 people to management’s office for the delivery. Multiple workers spoke up about the demands.

Management refused to accept the petition, saying that would be “recognizing the union.” But we expected that. The most important thing is that our co-workers saw their own power—recognizing that we are a union by acting like one, whether management likes it or not.

The mood in the warehouse afterwards was positive. Many co-workers said they thought it was a strong action and asked how they could get more involved. Seeing dozens of co-workers standing together helped people overcome their fear and showed that collective action is possible. We’re just getting started.

Kenneth Guy and Dylan Maraj are Amazon workers at DBK4 in New York City.

Montage of Petition Deliveries

@amazonteamsters Amazon workers across New York gathered over 600 signatures from coworkers demanding $25/hr and Juneteenth as a paid holiday among other workplace improvements. Watch them take action and deliver the petitions to management! #Juneteenth #TimeForChange #MakeAmazonDeliver #1u #Teamsters #Unions #UnionStrong #SolidarityForever #AmazonWorkers #MakeAmazonPay #fyp #rate #manager #Amazon#CapCut ♬ original sound - Amazon Teamsters