ERLANGER, Ky. — Employees of one the largest corporations in the world are trying to take it head on in northern Kentucky. That starts, they said, with organizing.
Workers at the Amazon Air Hub at Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky International Airport (KCVG) said they hope it ends with better pay and more paid time off.
Nov. 27 to Dec. 27 is, as one can imagine, the busiest time of the year for employees at the Amazon Air Hub, as they process and ship out millions of packages to people around the country for the holidays.
“We work long hours at this air hub, in all weather conditions, if you’re on the ramp in the story building. This is the backbone of Amazon's air freight network. We’re doing around 500k in volume every day, 500,000 units. And the cans are getting heavier, the freight cans. The pace of work is getting harder,” said Griffin Ritze, who is a cargo tractor driver at the Air Hub.
Braeden Pierce is a learning ambassador there. Both men said employees would receive a “peak pay” bump during this time in previous years.
“Typically, it’s about two dollars, but I think we weren’t gonna get that this year. So we started a petition, started talking to our coworkers. Got about 400 people signed on. Presented it to management. Management shot us down. No peak pay this year. And from right off the bat when we were talking to our co-workers in regards to this petition, people were talking union,” Pierce said.
They were part of a small group of employees that launched Unionize Amazon Northern Kentucky KCVG in November. They said just under 500 people have signed their petition to this point. They’re fighting for $30 an hour pay, 180 hours of paid time off, and union representation in disciplinary meetings.
“We’re tired of it. We want to start to fight back, and just get what we deserve. You know, 30 an hour might sound like a lot to people. When you really break it down with inflation, cost of food, groceries, gas, everything going up, it’s not a lot,” Ritze said. “We just deserve to have a decent living, be able to take care of our families and ourselves.”
Amazon declined Spectrum News 1’s request for an interview.
Amazon Spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis sent the following statement:
“Our employees have the choice of whether or not to join a union. They always have. As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
According to the company, front-line employees in customer fulfillment and transportation earn between $16 and $26 per hour. Benefits, according to Amazon, include health, vision and dental insurance from day one; a 401(k) with 50% company match; up to 20 weeks paid leave, which includes 14 weeks of pregnancy-related disability leave plus 6 weeks of parental leave; Amazon’s Career Choice program, which pre-pays college tuition; and Amazon’s Resources for Living program, a free mental health benefit offering services and support for employees, their families and their households.
The Air Hub was a $1.5 billion investment. It employs, Ritze estimates, between 3,000 and 3,500 people.
“Right now, if you go down to that air hub and ask any given person there, they either need a roommate, or they have to have a second job,” Pierce said.
Ritze said their core organizing committee that has been meeting for months made the decision to go from a peak pay petition to going public on their union push.
“Amazon’s response has been, from the jump, to fly in high paid consultants, employee relation staff, aka union busters, to try to talk to our co workers before we do, to try to poison the well, and say, ‘no, we don’t want a union here,’” Ritze said. “Amazon has also distributed literature, and put messages out on their LED screens throughout the facility saying that we’re a third party, you know, unions just want your money, just kind of their standard anti-union propaganda. And the reality is, there’s hundreds and hundreds of workers at this facility that are ready to fight.”
Ritze and Pierce said their plan is to keep pushing, and they expect the company to keep pushing back.
“We’re taking on one of the most powerful corporations in the world. It’s not an easy feat. But this is the key task for the labor movement right now, is to organize the unorganized,” Ritze said.
Their organizing committee is holding community outreach programs this Saturday (Dec. 10). One is at the KCVG Airplane Viewing Area. The other will be at Findlay Market in Cincinnati.
The National Labor Relations Board requires at least 30% of workers to sign a petition to hold an election for a union. Amazon's first union was started earlier this year in Staten island. There have been other unionization efforts in other states, but no other successful ones so far.