What We’ve Won at JFK8

Right to Wear Headphones

For years, Amazon refused to allow headphones to be worn, even in departments that required little coordination between employees such as Pack and PCF. Together, we won the right for employees in select departments to wear headphones by organizing around a petition and marching on HR, demanding our voices be heard. 

Reversing Illegal and Unfair Firings

After our historic strike in 2024, Amazon's automated system deducted UPT for our time on strike, resulting in automated "firings” for those who went negative. Every single "firing” was not only REVERSED due to our collective action, every single one was re-instated with back pay. In addition, Amazon workers like you have gone to HR with their co-workers with the support of ALU Lead Stewards, and reversed DOZENS of illegal and unfair firings.  

Functioning AC

We at JFK8 work under sweltering conditions all summer, with not enough heat breaks and dust that makes the heat that much worse As part of our Safety Campaign, specifically the Right to Safe Temperatures and Clean Air, we've pushed Amazon to fix broken AC systems and repair fans to keep the heat under control. 

Right to ASL Interpretation

Winning ASL Interpretation as a guaranteed right for deaf and hearing-impaired workers means making sure workers can participate in company processes on equal footing. As part of our Safety Campaign, specifically the Right to Humane Accommodations, deaf and hearing-impaired workers fought for and won this crucial concession from JFK8 management. 

Paid Time Off During Emergencies

Time after time, Amazon would either force workers to work through an in-building emergency, or send them home without pay. Through our sustained organizing and pressure, we've set a precedent of Amazon sending workers home WITH pay when it is unsafe for work to continue. This win requires constant pressure to maintain and it's resulted in millions of estimated additional earnings for JFK8 workers. 

Winning Workers Comp Cases

Together, we've won dozens of Workers’ Comp cases, often over Amazon's spurious attempts to deny them. Someone is injured every day at Amazon, as we continue to work in conditions that put us in danger of life and limb. When we are injured as a result of the work we do every day, we have a right to be compensated.

Mutual Aid

How We Care For Each Other

Mutual Aid Programs

We’re not millionaires and billionaires. Everyone at JFK8 has known scarcity, the fear of not being to pay a bill, make rent, or put food on the table. While Amazon refuses to bargain a fair contract and pays us barely enough to live, we’re taking steps to meet our survival needs now. Mutual Aid is what we call our efforts to source food, connect with legal and medical resources, assist in navigating NY social services, and otherwise have each others back as we continue to fight together for a strong union contract. 

Fighting Food Insecurity

By partnering with local supermarkets, our Mutual Aid team has co-ordinated food pantries at the JFK8 bus stop, providing much needed groceries to workers. Fresh fruits, vegetables, canned goods, and ready-mades are distributed in bags to workers. While these distributions are dependent on the availability of our generous partners, they have become bi-weekly in 2025. This is just one way that we as JFK8 workers take care of one another as we fight for justice and dignity. 

Legislative Efforts

Passed: Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act (WWRA)

The Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act is landmark piece of legislation which we helped to introduce and lobby for. It was passed on December 21, 2024, at the height of our historic strike. It was announced by Attorney General of New York Letitia James on our strike line to cheers from JFK8 workers. WWIRA is designed to improve safety in warehouse work and reduce musculoskeletal injuries, all too familiar to Amazon workers. It requires large warehouse employers to implement injury reduction programs, such as including ergonomic assessments, pace-of-work adjustments, employee training, and consultation with safety committees. The law directly targets the physical strains that cause common warehouse injuries. The law gives us, the workers, a formal role in preventing injuries. 

Source: https://alignny.org/warehouse-worker-injury-reduction-act/

In Progress: Delivery Protection Act

Amazon workers from JFK8 rallied with our Teamster brothers and sisters in support of the Delivery Protection Act this fall. 

“‘For too long, companies like Amazon have gotten away with terrible conditions in their last-mile facilities, while using subcontractors to dodge responsibility for unsafe delivery conditions and dangerous streets,” said Councilmember Tiffany Cabán. “The Delivery Protection Act will end that charade. It forces these companies to take responsibility for the conditions their delivery services create, and treat delivery workers as the essential workers they are, not as disposable labor. This bill is a game-changer for workers in New York and for every city fighting to hold corporate giants accountable. We’re proud to stand with the Teamsters in the fight for accountability, for safety, and for fairness.’”

Source: https://teamster.org/2025/09/teamsters-support-new-york-city-delivery-protection-act

In Progress: TEMP Bill

Members of Amazon Labor Union-IBT have taken a leading role in introducing and lobbying for the TEMP ("temperature extreme mitigation program”) Bill in the New York Senate. This bill would create mechanisms for workers to push back on punishing temperatures in the warehouse during the Summer months at Amazon.

“Summers inside the warehouse are brutal. One night, a coworker of mine started feeling light-headed and asked for a quick break just to sit down. Amazon management said no. She ended up passing out from dehydration and heat stress, right at her pack station… This isn’t a one-time incident, it’s a pattern. Amazon pushes us to keep working in dangerous heat, and when we speak up, we’re ignored. That’s why we need the TEMP Act passed: to make sure there are real rules in place to protect workers from heat stress before someone ends up seriously hurt, or worse,” said Michael Lebron, JFK8 Vice Steward, Amazon Labor Union-IBT Local 1.

Source: https://alignny.org/press/worker-safety-week-2025/