Night-Shift Employees Protested
The company suspended the workers with pay a day after the fire disrupted operations at the JFK8 warehouse on Oct. 3. On the day of the fire, day-shift workers were sent home with pay due. Night-shift workers were told to remain in a break area until management figured out the situation, according to Derrick Palmer, the vice president of the Amazon Labor Union. Approximately 100 night-shift workers held a sit-down protest at the facility's main office, demanding to be sent home with pay.
(AP)
Amazon Statement
In an Oct. 5 statement, Paul Flaningan, an Amazon spokesperson, confirmed the fire and that roughly 50 workers had been suspended. "All employees were safely evacuated," Flaningan said. After the New York fire department certified the building was safe "we asked all night-shift employees to report to their regularly scheduled shift." Flaningan said, "While the vast majority of employees reported to their workstations, a small group refused to return to work and remained in the building without permission."
(CNN)
Another Unionization Vote
The suspensions occurred less than 10 days before warehouse workers at a separate Amazon warehouse near Albany, N.Y., will vote on whether to become the second Amazon workforce to join the Amazon Labor Union.
A Separate Fire at Albany Facility
A fire broke out on the evening of Oct. 5 at Amazon's warehouse near Albany. Flaningan said the incident was a "small fire," adding that it was "contained to a...
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