AWU VICTORIES AT KSBD

After Amazon opened KSBD at San Bernardino International Airport in April 2021, management insisted it was the best employer in the Inland Empire region.

Since then, workers organizing as IE Amazon Workers United have used power in numbers to force the company to implement changes that would make that statement more of a reality. Listed below are some of the changes we’ve made possible by coming together as the people who keep this company running.

  • — Gathered signatures from a majority of KSBD workers for a petition demanding a living wage raise in Summer 2022

    — Won a 90¢ differential for the night shift on August 3, 2022

    Won a $1.25 raise on September 28, 2022

    — Nearly a year after waging the largest ULP strike in North American Amazon history, KSBD workers won the largest pay raise of the annual wage review at $1.75

  • — Over 170 workers walked off the job demanding a living wage on Aug. 12, 2022

    — Over 120 workers went out on the first Unfair Labor Practice strike at a US Amazon facility on October 14, 2022

    — Turned out hundreds of community and labor members each time to support Amazon workers

    — Nationwide media coverage of Amazon’s abuses and excesses that spurred our actions

  • — Only one day per holiday period can be an unpaid closure

    — Up to 2 extra paid days won during the combined Christmas and New Years closure period

    — Expanded VET options for workers to make up lost hours

  • — Secured numerous process and engineering improvements to protect worker safety

    — Enforced preventative heat breaks during the summer

    — Won A/C upgrades to keep the facility cooler, fans installed in the most physically intensive department, and portable cooling misters outside where temperatures reach 120°F +

    — Filed a complaint against KSBD with CalOSHA on management’s preventative heat illness practices, which led to a citation in early 2024.

  • — Turned official company meetings into platforms for workers to speak out

    — Rallied co-workers with our own on-site All-Hands meetings and petition-signing events

    — Held accountable managers and unionbusters who mistreated workers and behaved inappropriately

    — Collectively stood up to disrespectful managers

    — Energized departments to take on their specific issues directly

    — Reversed the suspension of a coworker targeted in retaliation for speaking against unionbusters

    — Made management reimburse the cost of worker-made baked goods heartlessly dumped in the garbage in retaliation for our strike organizing

  • — Combatted “Employee Relations” scare tactics and misinformation at captive audience meetings

    — Exposed 3rd party union-busting consultants who manipulate, surveil, and harass workers

    — Educated each other to ensure that Amazon’s millions of dollars spent on expensive outside agents don't phase us

  • — Wrote newsletters to keep our coworkers informed

    — Developed intro brochures for new hires to catch them up to speed and involve them in our fight

    — Hosted a BBQ with 100+ coworkers to prepare for our first walk-out

    — Engaged with workers organizing at other facilities across the country

    — Educated IE youth and college students on labor rights and the local warehousing industry