Amazon workers in Chicago stage walkout to demand better pay and working conditions

Dozens of warehouse workers walked off the job at two Chicago-area Amazon facilities on Wednesday, calling for increased wages and safer working conditions. The one-day protest coincides with efforts to unionize four Amazon sites in New York City and comes on the heels of a year marked by intense labor activism at the retailing giant. 

The work stoppages at Amazon delivery stations in Chicago's West Side neighborhood and in suburban Cicero came at the height of the holiday rush, threatening to disrupt at least one link in Amazon's massive distribution chain. Thursday is the final day to order more than 15 million products eligible for one-day delivery in time for Christmas, according to Amazon's website. 

"We're here demanding a $5 increase for our wages, and as well a return to the 20-minute breaks that we had during the pandemic. They took away five minutes from our breaks because supposedly the pandemic is over, and yet we got three cases yesterday," a worker said in a video of the walkout posted on social media by Amazonians United Chicagoland, a worker advocacy group.