On Wednesday morning, workers at an Amazon delivery center outside of Washington, D.C. filed a petition with their management calling for a $3 an hour pay raise. When their demand was not immediately accepted, they left work at lunchtime – shortly before dawn – and said they would not return during the day.
Curtis Futch was one of about 30 workers who took part in the strike, judging by the number of Amazon vests gathered at the door of the Upper Marlboro, Maryland facility known as DMD9. Dozens of community supporters came out to cheer them on, setting up a microphone and speaker so Futch and others could explain their grievances against the world’s largest online retailer.
“We’re overworked and underpaid,” Futch, 31, told HuffPost. “I feel that what we are asking for is not too much.”
As for his decision to quit his job in protest, “This is the first time I’ve done something like this,” he said.
The strike was led by a disparate group known as the Amazonians United, who are trying to organize various Amazon facilities across the country.
Unlike a traditional union campaign, Amazonians United does not collect union tickets in the hope of instigating elections and securing a collective bargaining agreement. Their goal is to hold workers’ actions, like those in Upper Marlborough, to force Amazon to solve workers’ problems. The group coordinated similar protests on Wednesday at two Amazon properties in New York.
More than 60 workers at 3 delivery stations left during the first strike this morning in several US states. Amazonians United workers at ZYO1 and DBK1 in New York and DMD9 in Maryland showed what solidarity looks like.
We demand a $3 raise! pic.twitter.com/wIYNUbEAon
— United Amazonians of New York (@NYCAmazonians) March 16, 2022
The strike in Upper Marlborough seemed to demonstrate the promise of such tactics in a facility of modest size. The delivery center is much smaller than the retailer’s larger fulfillment centers, and DMD9 workers say most of them chose to join the strike this particular shift. This resulted in facility managers and lower-level executives having to fill vacant jobs, which almost certainly caused logistical problems throughout the day.
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said in a statement that the company respects workers’ right to layoffs. Such protests are protected by the National Labor Relations Act, which allows workers to engage in “concerted activities” to help each other at work.
“We pride ourselves on offering industry-leading wages, competitive advantages and the opportunity for everyone to grow within the company,” said Nantel. “While there are many established ways to make sure we listen to our employees inside our business, we also respect the right of some of them to have their say outside the company.”
Sidney Coley, who has been at the site since October, said she hopes the strike showed the company how important low-level workers like her are to the operation. She suspected site managers were struggling to figure out how to cover the second half of the shift.
“We’ve been asking them for a raise for a long time,” Coley said. “So much work for such little pay.”
Starting wages at the facility are just under $16 an hour, the equivalent of a $33,000 annual salary, according to workers. The minimum wage for large employers in Maryland is $12.50 an hour, but Washington, D.C. is one of the most expensive metropolitan areas in the country. The MIT living wage calculator calculated that it would take a single adult to earn about $20 an hour to make ends meet in Prince George’s County, where the Upper Marlboro plant is located.
Kim Ware came to the delivery point on his day off to support his colleagues who took part in the strike. He called it a “huge step”, stating that workers deserve better pay for work that is “very hard on the body”. He noted that the cost of almost everything is rising due to inflation, which makes it increasingly difficult for workers to cover rent and basic expenses.
“After working at Amazon, I realized that there was a need for solidarity, a need to come together,” Ware, 57, said.
“We do physical and mental work,” said Bidiana Jones, 39, who has worked at the facility since it opened in 2020. “We need to be paid for our work.”
Jones said she and others signed the raise petition back in December but heard nothing after it was submitted, leading to support for the strike.
Amazon currently employs about 1 million people in the US and the large logistics operation remains union-free. Trade union activists are debating how to organize such an important and influential company at a time when private sector union membership is only 6.1%.
“We are overworked and underpaid. I feel that what we are asking for is not too much.”
— Curtis Futch, Amazon employee
The retail, wholesale and department store union raised enough union clearance cards to force an election at Amazon’s Alabama warehouse last year, but ended up losing by a wide margin after the company’s intense anti-union campaign. Labor officials found that Amazon broke the law and ordered a repeat election, which is currently underway.
Some wonder if it is even possible to win an election in a warehouse with 6,000 workers given the employer’s advantage in the union campaign. For now, Amazonians United appears to have set itself a more achievable goal: build critical mass at facilities where possible, and then rally workers to make their demands. The wider campaign has no official officials or organizations, although experienced union organizers volunteer their time.
Rumors of a planned strike in Upper Marlborough filtered through Maryland’s progressive networks on Wednesday’s eve. Supporters agreed to meet at a nearby Wawa store at 6 a.m., where they handed out posters and waited for a response from Amazon employees. It seemed that many had heard about the strike through local branches of the Democratic Socialists of America.
Someone asked that no one wear union insignia, as their purpose was to support the workers, not to promote any groups.
They pulled out of the parking lot in a trailer, parked outside the delivery center, and headed to the Amazon parking lot with music and food to greet everyone who got off. They yelled “We’re not going to take this” and “Fight the power” and set the table to distribute bags of homemade food.
Davis, a worker who came out and asked not to be identified by her full name, said she was encouraged to see how many supporters had gathered outside to cheer them on.
“Some of the people who came out were a little scared,” Davis said. “But when they saw all the people here, they were happy.”