While Amazon is expanding its operations all over the country―spending millions of dollars on delivery drones, worker surveillance tech, and new warehouses―there’s one place where they’re suddenly closing their doors: Maple Grove, MN, right outside the Twin Cities.
Amazon spends $30-50 million to open a sorting facility. [1] This one opened its doors less than 5 years ago but is now expected to shutter in January. [2] Hundreds of workers there are now facing job loss while still packing millions of dollars in holiday orders.
Maple Grove workers are fighting back. They’re demanding Amazon to provide fair severance, transfers to nearby facilities, and clear information about their rights during the closure, but Amazon is refusing many of these requests. Your contributions will help those workers cover their rent, groceries, and bills until they secure a transfer or new employment.
One Amazon worker, whose story we are sharing anonymously and with permission, is a new mother struggling to make ends meet.
She came to work at Amazon to support her family, and what she hoped for in return was simple: the protections Minnesota law already guarantees to pregnant and nursing workers.
During a difficult pregnancy fraught with medical complications, Amazon approved her accommodations, but she shared that she was still given work beyond her medical limits. Her requests for restroom, food, and rest breaks were often denied. At times, she says, she had to hide just to use the restroom.
When she asked to begin her leave early, she was told it was too soon. Shortly after, she was hospitalized, and her baby was born prematurely. With a newborn who needed significant care and no unpaid time left, she felt pressured to return to work before she was ready.
When she came back, she asked for break time and a private space to pump breast milk. She says those requests were denied. She often couldn’t pump during her shifts, which caused her pain and reduced her milk supply. She says she was then written up for the time she did spend pumping.
She spoke up. She reported these problems to her manager, Human Resources, regional management, and the site leader. Afterward, she says, her manager began watching her closely and disciplining her. When she asked about breaks, he asked whether she was pregnant again.
Then one day at work, the left side of her body went numb. She asked staff to call 911. Instead, she says, they checked her blood pressure, told her she was fine, and sent her to drive herself home. She had to pull over on the freeway. When she finally reached home and called 911 herself, responders told her the symptoms could be consistent with a stroke.
Her struggles have not stopped there. She says Amazon has been cutting her shift hours, making it hard for her to pay her bills, including rent. When the company announced that her facility was closing, the cuts continued. She has asked to transfer to another facility with the same hours she had, but she says that request has not been granted. Now, as a new mother, she is facing the loss of her job and her income at the same time.
This is just one Maple Grove worker’s story. Hundreds of workers at this Amazon facility are facing job loss.
The Awood Center is a Twin Cities workers’ center supporting MSP7 Amazon workers in their fight for fair treatment during this closure and connecting impacted workers with local services.
The Labor Force is working closely with The Awood Center to make sure these workers can make rent, pay bills, and afford groceries until they secure a transfer or find new employment.
In Solidarity,
The Labor Force
[1] https://www.yahoo.com/news/us/articles/amazon-plans-48-million-sortation-183918761.html
[2] https://press.aboutamazon.com/2021/11/new-amazon-sortation-center-in-maple-grove-now-up-and-running