The Amazon Labor Union, Teamsters Local 1 at the JFK8 Fulfillment Center in Staten Island, on June 18 launched a worker-led safety campaign. JFK8 is the first unionized U.S. facility of Amazon, the multibillion-dollar corporation known for its high injury rates and overall mistreatment of employees.
Forty ALU members marched on the boss during the warehouse’s evening shift change. Employees outnumbered management, crowding around the boss’s desk: a display of power. Workers wore ALU t-shirts, vests, and pins while holding signs reading “we are not robots.” Many also held typed-up speeches recounting their experiences with Amazon’s lackluster safety protocols.
Samantha Diaz, a steward and deaf employee, came prepared to speak. Completely deaf since the age of five, Samantha learned American Sign Language (ASL) as a first language, and she also learned to read, write, and speak English. She is also extremely proficient at reading lips.
Diaz called out Amazon for “routinely [denying] accommodations to pregnant, injured, elderly, and differently-abled workers, pressuring us to work through pain or risk retaliation.” She detailed her experiences as a deaf worker, such as the company routinely denying her and her deaf coworkers an ASL interpreter. She pointed out that, despite her ability to read lips, she is bound to “have a misunderstanding from time to time” and that many deaf people cannot read lips or understand, read, and write English. Expecting them to do so is unfair.
Diaz further detailed how she is “always used by Amazon to interpret for deaf coworkers” and that while she is “not tired of helping coworkers,” it is not fair to have to translate when she is a worker who works with her hands — nor does she get paid extra for being a translator.
Diaz said deaf workers will either come to her for translating, or stay quiet and do nothing about any situation they are experiencing.
“Amazon needs to start using the program that is already provided for us deaf community,” she said. “If anyone doesn’t use the [Video Remote Interpreting] service to communicate, at least provide an on-site interpreter program available 24/7.” VRI provides deaf or hard of hearing people an ASL interpreter via a video call. The interpreter works from a remote location and translates the conversation.
Less than a month later, Amazon announced that it would be updating its national policy and would start providing around-the-clock ASL interpretation services with VRI to all deaf warehouse workers in the United States, which had not been accessible before. This means that all conversations with Amazon human resources and management will be joined by an offsite interpreter.
Diaz said, “I am actually thrilled! I never thought I would be able to get through to them for these changes.”
The March
Everything changed with the June march on the boss. Diaz and her coworkers, including other deaf workers that she had organized and encouraged to join the march, proved that well-coordinated shop floor action can bring about concessions from even the most resistant company.
Diaz had long been a fighter against injustice, initially inspired by her father.
“[School] was very challenging because of my deafness. I got mistreated by other people, especially my kindergarten teacher,” she explained. “When my father saw how I was mistreated, he stood up for me in front of the whole school. Because of my father, I became what I am today: a strong-willed woman that will stand up for others.”
Diaz got involved with her union following a change in leadership brought about by rank-and-file organizers tired of the ALU’s inactivity. In July 2024, the ALU Democratic Reform Caucus swept the union’s first-ever democratic elections for leadership, breathing new life into the dormant organization.
The new leaders, headed by local president and DSA member Connor Spence, have begun an organizing plan to help revitalize JFK8 workers, equipping them with the tools to fight their bosses. They have developed a comprehensive steward network and more shop floor action, along with the ability to democratically deliberate and vote on the direction of their union.
Diaz was recruited to action by a friend in the steward network and went on to become a steward herself. “Seeing my ALU family fighting without giving up is what motivates me to keep going,” she said.
