A month ago, Amazon workers in New York voted in favor of the creation of a union in their warehouse on the island of Staten Island named JFK 8. A first for the company on American soil.
Since the beginning of the week and until this Friday (29.04), another highly anticipated referendum is underway in a nearby warehouse.
Behind this organizing movement is a group of highly motivated activists, current and former employees of the multinational who are demanding better working conditions. Among them, a Liberian takes care of mobilizing the many French-speaking African employees.
This is Brima Sylla, who has lived in New York for over twenty years.
8,000 employees, hundreds of Francophones
As he speaks French, Brima Sylla took care of convincing the many French speakers in the JFK 8 warehouse to vote for the union. Indeed, several hundred French speakers – Congolese, Gabonese or even Haitians – work in this gigantic warehouse of 8,000 employees.
“I told myself that this is also our fight. We cannot sit at the back of the bus. You have to be there at the start of the movement”explains Brima Sylla.
A former teacher in New York, Brima had just completed a doctorate in public policy in 2020 when the pandemic paralyzed the city. When schools and universities weren’t hiring, he found a job at Amazon’s JFK 8 warehouse, where he records orders before they’re packaged and shipped.
Dehumanizing working conditions
At the same time, Brima notices that a movement is underway to create a union. Mobilized since the 2020 health crisis, activists are calling for better pay, paid sick leave and greater job security.
Indeed, Amazon is often criticized for its stressful and even dehumanizing working conditions. And this, while the wealth of its founder Jeff Bezos increased by 70 billion dollars in the first year of the pandemic.
Jeff Bezos, the boss of Amazon, is the second richest man on Earth behind Elon Musk according to Forbes magazine
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So Brima started trying to convince his colleagues through face-to-face discussions and exchanges in a WhatsApp group for African employees. He was quite confident in the outcome of the vote.
“It was quite easy to convince the others. We had to do something to change. We have the power. They are not going to stop us. The revolution will continue. We want to get good things for everyone because the economic situation is not good.”
Brima and his ALU comrades hope to celebrate another union formation in a few days. An internal referendum was held until Friday, April 29 in another Staten Island warehouse. Smaller, it has only 1,600 employees. And there are fewer Francophones to convince. But Brima remains mobilized.
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