Caledonia, MI - For 48 straight hours, from December 19 to 21, members of Teamsters Local 406 picketed outside the Amazon GRR1 Fulfillment Center in solidarity with the Amazon Teamsters on strike nationwide. Braving snow and temperatures as low as 23 °F, the trade unionists stayed outside passing out literature, leading chants and talking with community members from Grand Rapids, Muskegon and Caledonia. 

During the 48 hours outside, many drivers from Amazon and the nearby Coca-Cola facility honked their horns and raised their fists in support. “There seems to be a lot of interest from the drivers,” one activist on the picket-line stated. “Amazon likes to hire them out as independent contractors. Drivers are more likely to get screwed over when they don’t have legal protection.”

The nationwide strike began because of Amazon’s refusal to bargain with workers.

At Amazon facilities, supervisors play into anti-union propaganda during captive audience meetings and by impersonating union reps, one activist at the GRR1 facility told the picketers early Friday morning. Events from the last few days have corroborated these claims. Videos from pickets nationwide have shown such repressive tactics as police arresting striking workers, police violently pushing back trade unionists to allow scabs to cross the picket, and – in one instance – Amazon supervisors turning on an outdoor wastewater release near picketers at the Queens, New York DB4K facility during the afternoon of the December 21.

Eduardo Montiel, the chair of the Grand Rapids Alliance Against Racist & Political Repression who was formerly employed at the Amazon GRR1 plant, stated, “The bosses have shown brutality in the way they treat these picketing workers and have even arrested a few – all for using their rights to protest work conditions.”

At the GRR1 facility, the picketers had to park far away from the line or risk having their cars towed, making it difficult to warm up or rest during the cold evenings. During the first day of picketing, one supervisor allegedly confronted a reporter for parking in the massive lot near the picket line. 

Local activists from Palestine Solidarity Grand Rapids (PSGR) and Freedom Road Socialist Organization stood alongside the Teamsters at GRR1. When asked about the importance of showing up for workers, Emerson Wolfe the chair of PSGR stated, ”With so many of our tax dollars funding the U.S. war machine, we know how important it is to join the fight for workers’ rights. Jeff Bezos is profiting off the surveillance and targeting of Palestinian families, and over a million Amazon workers are forced to be complicit in the genocide. A strong, unionized workforce would put bargaining power in the hands of workers and allow regular people the right to stand up against the greed and depravity of billionaires.”

As of Christmas day, the strike has expanded into Staten Island and Atlanta Amazon facilities. 

Starbucks workers have also begun their own strike – and Teamster delivery drivers to the coffee chain are, by contract, not allowed to cross the picket line. 

#CaledoniaMI #Teamster #Amazon #AmazonStrike #Strike #Labor #UnionPower #GrandRapidsMI #GrandRapids

Protesters called for justice for Rittenhouse’s victims, chanting “Anthony, Joseph, this one's for you!” Several passersby honked and cheered to show their support.

The march was peaceful, was confined largely to the sidewalk, did not feature the use of megaphones, and concluded before 8 p.m. Nonetheless, after the protest, four activists were detained by the Grand Rapids Police Department. GRPD officers completely blocked traffic on Division Avenue, using at least eight squad cars. Earlier, dozens of bike cops swarmed Rosa Parks Circle and the surrounding area, cowardly picking off protesters returning home.

“Being both a transgender nonbinary, and a person of color, having a dozen cops all with guns aimed at me, while I was forced to kneel with my back to them? It does something to you. Especially when it occurs on the Transgender Day of Remembrance,” said Shane Perdue, director of research and development with Justice for Black Lives, “It shows how the system was designed when those like Rittenhouse can walk free, while we, as peaceful protestors, are being relentlessly harassed and vilified.”

#GrandRapids #KyleRittenhouse #JusticeForBlackLives

The march through downtown Grand Rapids was sometimes somber, but sometimes joyful as spectators smiled, waved and encouraged the student protesters. The march stretched a block long with city notables and educators in the lead. It united African Americans with whites, Chicanos, Latinos and other nationalities. Students from Grand Rapids Christian High School and Northview High School enthusiastically participated, linking arms as they marched in the cold winter weather, sharing their message of opposing racist discrimination and police brutality.

Nearby, hundreds of college students marched silently across the GVSU campus, passing yard signs highlighting the life and struggles of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. There was quiet anticipation as the GVSU field house filled up to standing room only. After an inspiring rendition of Lift Every Voice and Sing and introductory remarks, the crowd rose to their feet in thundering applause at the introduction of Sybrina Fulton, Trayvon Martin’s mother.

Fulton opened with a moment of silence for Martin Luther King Jr. and others, like her son Trayvon Martin, killed by gun violence in the U.S. She was steadfast, “This could not happen to a more average family,” adding, “We should not be comfortable with burying our children.” She clarified her purpose, “So what happened to Trayvon, we don’t want to happen to any more of our children.”

Fulton, a labor union member, described discrimination on the basis of race, class, religion and gender, exhorting, “All of these things are a form of profiling, are a form of discrimination, and they need to be got rid of in the U.S.”

She finished by expressing, “It hurts my heart to see what continues to happen in our country. Are you going to sit back and just do nothing, or are you going to participate in what is happening in your country? We cannot continue to remain silent.”

In response to an audience question, Fulton gave an energetic response, “The community has played a big role, but more importantly the colleges and universities have played a big role because they were active in their protests, they were active in their marches...I give it to the college students who were on the social media and constantly keeping this story alive. Even before CNN and ABC and CBS and all of those networks that got involved, it was the college students that got involved first and they were fed up with what was going on.”

Fulton emphasized, “It is the young folks that keep this movement going, that say, ‘I’m just not going to take this anymore.’”

#GrandRapids #GrandRapidsMI #AfricanAmerican #MLK #TrayvonMartin #GeorgeZimmerman #Michigan #MartinLutherKingJrMLKDay

Burke stated, “Bradley Manning's sentence of 35 years is harsh and unjustified. Manning exposed war crimes committed by U.S. soldiers and covered up by the top ranks of the Pentagon, State Department and White House. There are U.S. war criminals who belong on trial and in prison cells instead of those like Manning who expose the actual crimes. The U.S. government is becoming more and more repressive, spending money on war, prisons and repression, while the rich get away with ruining the lives of working people at home and abroad. “

Burke was one of the anti-war and international solidarity activists targeted in a Department of Justice investigation of “material support for terrorism.”

#GrandRapids #MI #PeoplesStruggles #CivilRights #BradleyManning #TomBurke #CommitteeToStopFBIRepression #PoliticalRepression #CSFR #FreeBradleyManning #Whistleblower