Amazon Workers Are Fighting For A Union At Its Biggest Air Hub

The labor fight is the latest sign that Amazon’s employees are not cowed by the company’s union busting tactics.

by Griffin Ritze, Labor Notes

I work as a tug driver at Amazon’s global air hub in Northern Kentucky (KCVG). My co-workers and I are taking on one of the largest corporations in the world to get what we deserve.

Our main demands are for a $30-an-hour starting wage, 180 hours a year of paid time off, and union representation at disciplinary meetings to end favoritism and retaliation.

This $1.5 billion facility is a flagship for Amazon—it’s the company’s biggest air hub. Jeff Bezos personally broke ground on it in 2019.

Protestors hold signs and march on a picket line across from Amazon's Whole Foods Market in solidarity with the unionizing Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama.

Earlier this month, night shift workers faced a double crisis when a transformer exploded in the middle of a tornado warning with wind speeds above 45 miles per hour. Amazon was forcing them to work through high wind speeds, with management periodically calling ground stops throughout the shift.

Then, after the fire alarm went off, hundreds of workers had to evacuate the building despite the tornado warning. Workers were screaming and crying, thinking they were either going to die in a fire or potentially face a tornado outside.