Hundreds of San Bernardino Amazon Air Workers Demand Answers on Wage Theft in “March on Boss” Protest

Long record of missed rest breaks is the latest labor law violation at Amazon warehouse with a history of strikes

APRIL 24, 2024

SAN BERNARDINO, CA—On Friday morning, a delegation of workers at Amazon’s western air hub, KSBD, marched on-site leadership with an information request seeking clarity on apparent mass wage theft that has occurred at KSBD since the building’s launch in 2021. Workers gave Amazon a two-week deadline to respond after the site leader who received the group declined to do so.

The wage theft stems from legally required rest breaks that Amazon denied after 10 hours of work. California law states that employers shall compensate workers with one hour of pay each time they violate a worker’s break rights. KSBD workers say this has been a repeated occurrence at the building on a mass scale for years.

“My co-workers and I are tired of one of the world’s richest companies violating our basic right to a rest break,” says Anna Ortega, a KSBD worker and member of Inland Empire Amazon Workers United (IE AWU), the group behind the delegation. “Together, we’re asking Amazon to tell us how many times they violated this right because we know that, at this point, they owe workers at the building a significant amount of money.”

IE AWU confronted management with a banner featuring cards signed by over 500 workers, asking the group to make the information request. Now, throughout the two-week deadline for a response, the workers will wear buttons proclaiming what’s on their minds: “Amazon Better Have My Money!”

Since 2021, with support from the Teamsters and other labor and community organizations, KSBD workers have organized a walkout, a ULP strike, and an OSHA citation over past instances of illegal behavior by the company. Recently, workers secured the installation of fans and preventative heat illness breaks because of their protests. In the case of missed breaks, Amazon has presented another work-site danger caused by management that workers are now confronting.

“Aside from the wage theft, it’s clear that missed breaks at KSBD show a deep disregard for the safety of my co-workers and me,” says KSBD worker Cynthia Ayala. “Seeing an ambulance at our site is not a rarity, and as summer approaches, we will not allow Amazon to put further strain on us by keeping us working without breaks.” 

IE AWU is a worker organizing committee formed in 2022 to raise standards at KSBD, Amazon’s regional air hub in San Bernardino, CA. IE AWU is building regional worker power for a living wage and safe working conditions. For more information, check out ieamazonworkers.org or @ieamazonworkers.