(Bloomberg) -- Dozens of Amazon.com Inc. employees at a Southern California air hub were laid off Friday demanding $5 an hour and better working conditions, the latest sign of employee unrest for the online retailer.
Workers with red signs chanting "Beware Amazon Air" and "Living wages now" march in front of the facility in San Bernardino, California, about 60 miles (96 km) east of Los Angeles. The one-day strike at the facility, which employs more than 1,500 people, also raised issues of pay and working conditions after protests in the summer.
The workers said they have given Amazon an October 10 deadline to meet their demand, which will increase the starting salary at the facility to about $22 an hour. Daniel Rivera, 28, who took part in the strike, said he received a $1 an hour raise in September, bringing his hourly earnings to $18.50.
"Even with an increase in the dollar, it's not a living wage for us," he said. Several workers on site load and unload cargo planes.
The Seattle-based e-commerce giant is shutting down union campaigns nationwide. Earlier this week, Amazon employees at a warehouse in Moreno Valley, California -- about 20 miles from the San Bernardino air hub -- submitted paperwork to join the upstart Amazon labor union. Workers at a Staten Island warehouse in New York voted to join the union in April, but the company is trying to reverse the results. On Tuesday, the National Labor Relations Board is scheduled to collate votes to determine whether workers at an Amazon warehouse near Albany, New York, will constitute a local affiliate affiliated with the Amazon labor union.
Amazon said pay in its US facilities ranges from $16 to $26 an hour, depending on position and location. Employee benefits include medical coverage and 401(k) retirement plans, the company said in a statement.
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