Amazon workers in Joliet stage protest during company’s fall Prime sale

Workers at an Amazon facility in Joliet protested Tuesday afternoon during the first day of the company’s fall Prime sale event.

Day-shift employees at Amazon’s MDW2 facility in Joliet left work to join supporters for a 1 p.m. protest, according to Warehouse Workers for Justice, a workers’ center organizing with Amazon employees there.

Workers gathered outside the warehouse along with supporters, chanting, “Hey hey, ho ho, corporate greed has got to go.” Andrew Herrera, a spokesperson for Warehouse Workers for Justice, estimated about 30 day-shift employees walked out of the facility after clocking out on personal time. He said they were joined by about a dozen workers from other shifts.

Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait disputed Warehouse Workers for Justice’s count and said about 10 workers joined the protest while on their lunch.

The Amazon workers are calling for safe working conditions, a base rate of pay of $25 an hour and “work with dignity,” according to Warehouse Workers for Justice.

The protest comes during the first day of Amazon’s fall Prime Early Access sale. It’s the first time Amazon has hosted a second major sale in a year after its summer Prime Day.

Steve Broadway, who works as an operator processing packages as they come into the facility, walked out of the facility Tuesday. Broadway said he hoped the protest would show higher-ups at Amazon where workers are coming from.

“We are the backbone of Amazon,” said Broadway, 60. “We deserve higher pay, better working conditions and safety which allows us to work comfortably.”

In a statement, Agrait said Amazon values employee feedback and is “always listening.”

“We’re investing $1 billion over the next year to permanently raise hourly pay for front-line employees and we’ll continue looking for ways to improve their experience,” Agrait said.

Tommy Carden, an organizer with Warehouse Workers for Justice who has been organizing with the Amazon workers in Joliet, said employees “want to be safe at work, they want to be paid fairly for that work and they want to work with dignity and respect.”

The organization said more than 600 workers have signed a petition calling for stronger health and safety policies at the facility as well as the increased base pay rate.

Carden estimates there are 400 to 600 day-shift workers at the Joliet facility. Many of the workers there make about $18 to $19 an hour, he said. Carden raised concerns about repetitive stress injuries among workers at the Joliet facility.

Amazon said that nationally, employees in customer fulfillment and transportation make between $16 and $26 an hour, with average pay of more than $19 an hour.

In May, workers at the facility alleged racist death threats were scrawled on a bathroom wall there. This summer, some workers filed complaints with the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission alleging a racist workplace environment — including that the company allowed white employees at the facility to wear Confederate flag attire to work. More than 40 workers at the facility have filed complaints with the EEOC, according to their attorney, Tamara Holder.

One worker alleged she was fired after telling the company she would take legal action if Amazon did not address workers’ concerns about its handling of the racist graffiti.

“Amazon is clearly not listening to its employees,” Holder said in a statement Tuesday.

“A walkout is the ultimate message of revolt and it’s sad that the same location that has 42 EEOC complaints now has a walkout,” she said.

In a statement this summer, Amazon spokesperson Richard Rocha said racism was “certainly not tolerated by Amazon,” and that the company “works hard to protect our employees from any form of discrimination and to provide an environment where employees feel safe.”