Chants like “when we fight, we win” rang out in front of the John Weld Peck Federal Building in downtown Cincinnati as Amazon employees called on the e-commerce giant to stop internal union-busting practices at the company’s hub in Hebron.
Amazon’s North American Superhub at the Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport is a key cog in Northern Kentucky’s logistics and shipping sector.
Around a dozen of the hub’s employees, joined by representatives from the Louisville-based Teamsters Local 89, hosted a press conference at which they alleged the company had violated their labor rights.
Furthermore, they accused Amazon of hiring external union-busters, alleging they told workers they were not allowed to share pro-union literature on-site and illegally surveilled workers that engaged in union activity.
The press conference was a precursor to a National Labor Relations Board trial against Amazon that started on Monday, Aug. 12. The board’s District 9 office is located in the Peck Federal Building.
“We’re here today to demand that Amazon stop violating our rights, stop their union busting tactics, and dismiss the dozens of highly paid outside professional union busters that they have hired to harass, to hamper our organizing efforts and mostly to bring down the anvil on Amazon as a whole and their union-busting,” Amazon ramp agent Riss Krull said.
Marcio Rodriguez, a member of the Amazon Organizing Committee for the Amazon CVG facility, known as KCVG, told the media he was personally written up for setting up a union table.
“Amazon has broken the law many times, and we need answers for things that they have done,” Rodriguez said. “I, myself, have been written up for insubordination just for having a union table outside.”
David Thornsberry, an organizer with Teamsters Local 89, said they have been meeting with Amazon workers since April to organize pickets and demonstrations.
“We’re meeting new workers at Amazon KCVG every day,” he said. “They recognize that we’re all in this together as far as UPS, DHL, Amazon – we’re trying to raise the standards of living for these workers instead of a race to the bottom like Amazon is trying to take their workers to.”
Last week, the US District Court for the Eastern District of Kentucky ruled that the Kenton County Airport Board—the governing board of CVG—could not block the Teamsters’ demonstrations against Amazon.
In July, the airport board denied Teamster’s request to demonstrate at a roadside site near Amazon’s CVG campus. In response, the union requested an injunction. Ultimately, the district court ordered the airport board to allow the union to picket on sidewalks and other easements around the campus.
In a press release, International Brotherhood of Teamsters General President Sean O’Brien celebrated the ruling while excoriating Amazon for “exploiting loopholes and breaking laws to take advantage of workers.”
Amazon employee Zach Neeley said organizers will continue to push back against Amazon if the company continues to stifle organization efforts.
“I cannot promise workers watching at home that last week’s case or the one being heard today will end Amazon’s history of breaking the law,” Neeley said. “However, what I can promise though is that if Amazon continues to violate our rights to organize, whether it be on the shop floor, in a captive audience meeting, or on the steps of a federal courthouse, we will meet them head on each and every time.”
Regarding the trial, Rodriguez told the media he hoped the National Labor Relations Board would reach a decision this week.
LINK nky has reached out to Amazon for comment but has not gotten a response as of the publication of this article.
