Safety, Pay Remain Top Concerns at San Bernardino Amazon Air Hub

Workers Express Fear for Health as Summer Approaches

In a recent survey, workers at the San Bernardino Amazon air hub confirmed that pay, safety
and retaliation remain top concerns. Workers specifically raised concerns about access to
water, shade and time to rest during high heat.

The data paints a clear picture of unresponsive managers and a lack of respect given to
workers on the job.

About 84% (strongly agree, 74%; slightly agree, 10%) of workers indicated needing water, a
cool place to rest, and recovery time during the summer heat. Similarly, 83% of workers
(strongly agree,75%; slightly agree, 8%) reported wanting more PTO and designated paid
sick days.

Figure 1.

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Selected Responses from Qualitative Data:

"Access to cold water is limited and now that the summer is approaching it’s very
crucial for dehydration."

"In the summer months of August and early September I had headaches and nose
bleeds that I believe to be the dryness of the air an extreme temperatures on the
Ramp."

Over half (52%, n=137) of the participants (workers) reported that they have been injured
at the Amazon air hub in San Bernardino. Of the survey respondents who reported an
on-the-job injury, over half (56%, n=77) reported the injuries to their supervisors. Of the
workers who reported an injury to their supervisor, only 34% (n=26) were satisfied with the
employer’s response to their injury.

Figure 2.

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Of those who reported work related injuries, 56% (n=77) reported those injuries to their
Amazon supervisor and 38% (n=52) did not. Of those who were injured at work and who
reported the injury, 34% (n=26) were satisfied with Amazon’s response to their injury.

Figures 3 and 4.

*For Figures 3 and 4, respondents who did not answer affirmatively in Figure 2 have been
excluded.

Selected Responses from Qualitative Data:

Amazon workers at KSBD who did not report injuries to their supervisors shared in their
responses a fear of retaliation, and instances of being questioned, or not being believed by
their employer if they reported their injury. Specifically, survey respondents shared:

“I had injured my wrist weeks before and felt aggressively interrogated by AmCare
[Amazon in-house medical services], and I was worried that management would use
the incident to discipline me about possible safety violation.”

“I felt they were not severe [the injuries] enough to report, and that if I reported it, I
would not receive accommodations because the injuries were not visible. I also felt
like I would get interrogated for unsafe work practices when in reality, the injuries were
just from standard work.”

“Despite requesting to do something less strenuous, I was made to feel bad that they
couldn't find the help they needed, so they relied on me.”

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Workers underscored experiences with warehouse management disregarding workers’
injuries. Examples include:

“All they said was, ‘Maybe you hurt yourself at home.’ Could it be you slept wrong.’”'
“They said I was faking it and disregarding I did get treated, but it was poorly.”

“Tried to keep me from being seen and basically told me it was my fault that I didn't
know what I was doing.”

As a result, workers reported having to “tough it out” or help themselves when they were
injured on the job. Responses included:

“I just went to the bathroom and cleaned myself up, then continued to work.”

"Treat employees like a human and not like robots. Actually, cover people when they
get hurt due to an injury at work."

"Treat us like humans."

4
A majority of the participants (91%) agreed (strongly agree, 87%; slightly agree, 4%) that
they deserved a living wage, and 89% of participants agreed (strongly agree, 80%; slightly
agree, 9%) that all critical roles deserve compensation.

Figure 5.

.
Selected Responses from Qualitative Data:

"Accountability and not being in fear of losing your job all the time or running out of
hours…There are so many policies at Amazon you don't know if you're breaking one
that can get you fired or not. "

"Critical roles I feel like we should be paid not cents but dollars. Amazon should care
more about their employees what goes on in our lives so we can be better workers."

Methodology

Workers at the San Bernardino Amazon air hub surveyed their coworkers between March 24,
2023 and May 12, 2023. They collected 264 surveys that contained both quantitative and
qualitative responses. Survey responses come from a representative sample of workers in all
five departments at KSBD including day shift and night shift workers.