Amazon: Walkout against sick working conditions

CHICAGO, April 4—A group of Progressive Labor Party (PLP) comrades enthusiastically rallied with Amazon workers who organized another walkout at a distribution center on the city’s southwest side today. The distribution workers here are connecting with similar actions at Amazon facilities across the country, from Seattle to New York. They are protesting the criminal neglect of their billionaire bosses who have largely failed to provide basic sanitation and protection against coronavirus in their overcrowded centers.
As the capitalist economic system begins to feel the damage from Covid-19, we can only expect that the bosses are going to throw us workers more and more into harm’s way in order to protect their profits. That is, unless we continue to organize to fight back and make immediate demands to protect ourselves, our loved ones, and the entire working class.
These immediate demands are necessary, and will definitely save workers’ lives. But as long as capitalism remains in place, profits will always come before workers’ safety. Also, like all things under capitalism, these attacks will take on a racist essence, harming Black, Latin, Asian and immigrant workers the worst.
The bloodsucking capitalists have no real plan to protect us. It’s essential that we continue to build the growing fightback happening across the world, boldly advocating for international, multi-racial working-class unity and communist politics. Only communist revolution led by a mass PLP will guarantee safety for the world’s workers from pandemics, unemployment, racism, and war.
Honk for workers’ power
Today’s action started at dawn. At least two dozen cars lined up in a nearby parking lot, and at the designated time, we drove over to the Amazon distribution center. Our caravan came upon at least a dozen multi-racial Amazon workers already leading a picket near one of the facility’s front entrances.
All the drivers inside their vehicles enthusiastically honked in support of the workers on the picket, making laps throughout the sprawling parking lots around the facility. Many drivers had signs in their windows, such as “Capitalism Kills” and “Workers’ Power.” Others rolled down their windows and used bullhorns to join the chants on the front lines.
Not more than fifteen minutes after starting our solidarity caravan we got some unwanted company from the local racists-in-blue, the Chicago Police Department (CPD). The cops immediately started flashing their lights and blocking the path of the driving cars. They began to create bottlenecks and prevented any more cars from driving in the narrow streets leading into the facility.
Although capitalist propaganda likes to push the myth that the cops exist to “protect and serve” workers, the reality is far different. Their main function is social control and to protect the capitalist bosses’ property and profits. While serving this role, they commit all sorts of racist violence, gunning down hundreds of workers every year, the majority of those killed in the U.S. being Black and Latin. It’s only fitting that they be here during this pandemic, protecting the profits of one of the wealthiest companies in the history of the world.
‘Shut it down! Clean it up!’
Although the killer cops had effectively shut down the caravan, we weren’t about to let this derail our efforts to support the brave Amazon workers. We simply parked, walked up to their picket and joined their ranks. Wearing masks and maintaining safe physical distances, we joined in chants of “Shut it Down! Clean it Up!” referring to the demand of the workers that Amazon shut down the facility long enough to deeply sanitize all equipment after confirmed Covid-19 cases.
Many of the delivery workers, who were not officially a part of the walkout, soon came out to support. It was clear that they were inspired at the sight of their co-workers’ action, and the fact that the bosses had been caught off guard. We quickly got out over 20 CHALLENGEs and had some good conversations before the cops dispersed the rally.
Amazon, world-class exploiters
Amazon can serve as the poster child for the injustice of capitalism. Its CEO and founder, Jeff Bezos, is worth over $100 billion dollars, the richest man on the planet. Through tax loopholes, the company paid nothing in federal taxes in 2018 despite having profits of more than $11 billion that year (CNBC, 4/4/19).
Even with such obscene amounts of wealth gained from our labor, this massive corporation cannot be bothered to suspend operations even for a brief period to disinfect facilities after more and more workers turn up positive for Covid-19. But workers are obviously fighting back nationwide, even in the face of harassment, disinformation, and retaliation from the bosses (Buzzfeed News, 3/31).
Capitalism is a sick system
As the coronavirus pandemic continues to unfold, millions more workers are bound to grasp more deeply the murderous nature of this capitalist profit system. As communists, we need to find more ways to safely connect with workers during the crisis and offer the revolutionary leadership needed to win them away from this deadly sick system, and instead to our collective liberation through an international, revolutionary, communist Progressive Labor Party.