Cars Picket For Amazon Workers Striking For Coronavirus Safety

This story was updated at 1:26 p.m., April 5, to include new information from Amazon staff.

CHICAGO, IL — A vehicular picket formed early Saturday morning outside the Amazon delivery facility on 28th and Western Ave. in support of workers there on strike for more robust coronavirus protections from their employer. More than a dozen vehicles had formed a moving circle on 28th Street by 7 a.m, honking and cheering as Amazon drivers left their trucks to idle in front of one of the facility's main vehicle exits. Chicago Police arrived on the scene by 7:15 and began to break up the strike, blocking 28th Street to incoming traffic and forcing the car-bound picketers to leave the area. Police refused to offer comment on their actions.

The striking workers were not happy about it.

"Look at this cop here, going to work at Amazon," one said, as an officer entered the Amazon facility to speak with its managerial staff.

"You should be ashamed of yourselves!" another yelled as an officer pounded on a picketer's car to get them to move.

By around 8 a.m., the police had effectively dispersed the strike action, clearing the street of the last picketers and commanding the Amazon drivers to move their trucks out of the facility driveway. The Amazon workers who remained on the scene, wearing gloves and masks, said they had no intention of giving up the larger strike effort.

For them, they said, it was a matter of personal safety.

"What prompted the strike... was, at least [according to] Amazon management, two cases of coronavirus within this warehouse at this point," one Amazon employee who asked to only be called "Ted," said. "The second one, we were alerted just yesterday around 5 p.m., and I asked a lot of the drivers that just came out here, none of them were notified."

Several of the truck drivers Patch spoke with confirmed Ted's story. Two confirmed cases of coronavirus in the facility, delayed company action in alerting employees. Some also said that they were concerned for the safety of Amazon workers in the facility who were not able to socially distance inside a truck.

"Two people got confirmed with coronavirus... and they never told us it was in the warehouse," a driver who asked to remain anonymous said. "The drivers also, we've got to go in the warehouse, load our vans and everything; ain't no such thing as social distancing [in there] because you're all up close on each other."

Ted said the striking workers are demanding two weeks' paid leave from the facility so that it can receive an extensive deep-clean. Additionally, he said, it was important that any workers who may be infected and not know it be able to isolate at home for two weeks so as to not spread the virus further.

"Ever since last Sunday, we've been telling Amazon that they need to shut this place down for... a disinfect, with pay," Ted said, "so that workers can both self-quarantine and get tested, or wait the two-week period so they know if they're also infected."

Vanessa Carrillo, another striking worker, said that the strike had begun on Monday, March 30, with small demonstrations and pickets. Thus far there has been no complete work stoppage at the facility, but she said that until the workers' demands for paid leave and more robust protections are met, the strike actions will continue.

"We are demanding for the management and site leaders to... go over our demands," Carrillo said, "as well as demanding that [Amazon] shut down the warehouse for a full a full cleaning and sanitation, as well as full pay for all the workers."

As for those who arrived by car in solidarity with the Amazon employees — one carrying a giant inflatable 'Scabby the Rat' in the back of his truck — the workers Patch spoke with weren't sure where they came from. Some guessed that they were members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), a theory that was confirmed for at least one picketer who asked to not go on record.

"I don't where they came from, but I'm glad they were here," Ted said.

Twenty-fifth Ward Alderman Byron Sigcho-Lopez — who was previously endorsed by the Chicago branch of the DSA — was also on the scene, trying to get police to speak with their commanding officers via cellphone as they corralled and eventually dispersed the strike. The officers refused to pick up the phone.

"The atrocities here with corporations like Amazon expose the workers to the [coronavirus] pandemic," Sigcho-Lopez said. "Two positive cases; last week we were here too, and the workers demanded Amazon to clean the facility. They haven't done it."

Patch asked Amazon if it could confirm the claims of two coronavirus cases in the facility, or if it had any plans to oblige the striking workers' demands for a deep-clean of the facility and a full two paid weeks off for all its employees. Amazon did not answer these questions, but did provide background on their coronavirus response.

"We are consulting with local and federal health authorities and medical experts on how to handle building closures for deep cleaning, if an employee tests positive for COVID-19," an Amazon PR representative said. "Our process evaluates where the employee was in the building, for how long, how much time has passed since they were onsite, and who they interacted with, among other items, in determining how to appropriately handle the situation."

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