LIC Amazon Workers Say They Were Fired For Organizing: Report

LONG ISLAND CITY, QUEENS — Weeks after staging a walk-out at a Long Island City warehouse, workers are alleging that Amazon fired a group of employees in retaliation for the labor action, according to a report by BuzzFeed News.

The independent workers' group Amazonians United filed the complaint against Amazon earlier this month with the National Labor Relations Board, according to BuzzFeed. It reportedly claims that Amazon illegally fired four workers who "supported a labor organization" at a Queens delivery hub, adding that Amazon they were terminated for "protesting terms and conditions of employment.”

That is an apparent reference to the March 16 overnight walkout led by workers at Amazon's ZYO1 warehouse in Long Island City, the DBK1 warehouse in Woodside, and a third facility in Washington, D.C.

As part of that action, a combined 31 workers abandoned their night-shift postings and staged protests outside the Queens facilities, demanding $3-per-hour raises and 20-minute rest breaks, according to VICE.

"These workers took collective action on the job by walking out for better wages and hours. Firing them for that is illegal, even if they’re seasonal employees," said Alek Felstiner, an attorney from the firm Levy Ratner, who is representing the workers.

Amazon did not respond to a request for comment, and Amazonians United could not immediately be reached for comment.

It is unclear when the four workers were terminated, but the NLRB website shows that Amazonians United first filed a retaliation and discrimination complaint in Long Island City on March 24 — just over a week after the walkout.

The ZYO1 warehouse first opened last February on 21st Street between 38th and 40th avenues in Dutch Kills, taking over the former Green Apple Supermarket. The Woodside facility, meanwhile, sits on Bulova Avenue just off the Brooklyn-Queens Expressway, next to St. Michael's Cemetery.

Workers at both sites had been involved in a previous safety push in December after six workers at an Illinois Amazon facility were killed in a tornado.

The filings are the latest instance of a flurry of labor activity that has swept Amazon in recent weeks — including, most notably, the successful union drive at the company's enormous JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island.