Dozens of Amazon employees in San Bernardino walk off job, demanding better pay, improved conditions
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. (KABC) -- Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday expressed his support for a group of Amazon employees who walked off the job at a major facility in San Bernardino.
According to the Washington Post -- the group says 160 workers left the West Coast air hub mid-shift over low wages and concerns regarding heat safety.
"I stand in solidarity with the Amazon workers in San Bernardino, CA who walked off the job today to protest low wages & unsafe working conditions," Sanders said in a tweet. "If Amazon can afford to pay its CEO $214 million last year it can afford to give their workers a $5 an hour raise & a safe workplace."
The employees say they've worked in temperatures of up to 95 degrees and would like their base pay increased by $5 an hour.
Amazon officials said only 74 out of 1,500 workers walked off the job -- and full-time employees have opportunities to make more money.
Earlier this month, more than 700 Amazon warehouse workers in England staged a protest in a dispute over pay, in a sign of workplace friction stoked by Britain's cost of living crisis and a growing discontent among employees over wage and working conditions.
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The GMB union said employees at the facility in Tilbury, Essex, east of London, stopped work Aug. 4 after the ecommerce giant offered to raise salaries by 35 pence (42 cents) an hour.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
