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. 

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