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Article

8 Apr 2021

Author:
Lauren Kaori Gurley, Motherboard

USA: Amazon workers in Chicago strike over ruthless 'Megacycle' shifts; incl. company comments

[W]orkers at DIL3, an Amazon delivery station in Gage Park on the South Side of Chicago walked off the graveyard shift, chanting "stop megacycle!" "Megacycle" is Amazon's 10-and-a-half-hour graveyard shift, that runs from roughly 1:20am to 11:50am, and has been rolled out across the United States over the past year, upending the lives of thousands of Amazon employees, by forcing them to choose between quitting their jobs or working in the middle of the night.

For single parents, those who care for elderly family members, or workers with health issues who were used to four-to-eight hour shifts, the new megacycle schedule has been untenable. Amazon workers and drivers in Pennsylvania, Massachusetts, Florida, Georgia, Indiana, and South Carolina, have also been transitioned to the megacycle shift.

Workers... who participated in the strike say they are facing constant understaffing and overworking on the megacycle shift... "My coworkers have been pleading with management to maintain a reasonable workload," said Ted Miin, an Amazon warehouse worker at DIL3 who participated in Wednesday's strike, and an organizer with Amazonians United Chicagoland. "About 20 or 30 of us walked out."

... "We respect our employees’ right to voice their concerns and peacefully protest without fear of retaliation, intimidation or harassment, and are aware a few employees took time to express concerns," Nikki Wheeler, an Amazon spokesperson told Motherboard. "We are making changes to our schedules to create more full-time shifts, which include competitive medical, prescription drug, dental and vision coverage, in addition to paid time off and parental leave... These full-time schedules are commonly used across our operations network and as we transition sites to them, associates have a number of choices that best supports their needs."