In September 2023, Amazon employees in Germany and Poland
along with their supporters organized the "Amazon Caravan."
They distributed their newspaper "The Amazon Worker"
at a total of nine Amazon locations in six cities.
Amazon came to Poland in 2014,
and from the very beginning it was clear
that they entered the Polish market to blackmail the workers in Germany,
because even now we earn,
in Poland, €5 per hour.
And this was an attempt to send a message to German workers
that they should not strike, they should not organize,
because they can be told, if you don't like it here
we move to Poland.
Russia.
Russian, Russian
Amazon Caravan
We are on the second day of the "Amazon Workers Caravan".
We started yesterday distributing leaflets on the night shift
in a warehouse in Leipzig.
We are just at the beginning of our tour.
During the next days we are going to visit
warehouses in Germany and Poland.
Amazon Workers International, which is a network coalition
of warehouse workers, Amazon workers from different countries,
has prepared a newspaper.
We are distributing the newspaper and we prepared it in
seven languages: Polish, German, English, Russian...
Because the workforce of Amazon is very diverse.
But we also prepared the newspaper with the different intention
as well, that we want to show that workers
should be united, not divided across borders.
So this is also the intention of the whole caravan,
to actually see that workers from Germany and Poland
are not competing against each other.
We have the big boss which is behind my back.
We see one of the Amazon warehouses.
They make so much money on our work
that we should all be better paid.
We should also work shorter.
We should not be under such a pressure from productivity targets.
So in the newspaper
we talk about our experience of organizing in different countries.
Actually, this is the first step to fight the alienation
we are all facing as pickers, packers in our warehouses
that Amazon doesn't want us to talk to each other.
They control us using scanners, using different forms
of surveillance.
And the first step is just start talking to each other.
And this is the first attempt of this caravan,
the main attempt of this caravan, that we are here,
workers are ending their shift,
they are getting here to take a train.
So we use this time also not not only to distribute the newspaper,
but also to ask about what are their problems in the local sites.
You can laugh at us,
or ignore us,
curse us or mock us
and hope that we lose.
You are welcome to complain
you can also call us names
and everything we do, wrinkle the nose.
You can continue grafting
and live on poverty pension.
You can lose your last shirt to our bosses.
You can hope that the bosses will fix it for you
but we will tell you quite frankly
you certainly can't.
You're not going to lead us astray, you won't ruin our day,
from our solidarity you won't take us off the path.
You can't stop us from fighting for our rights...
Amazon employs a lot of different people.
On the one hand in the warehouses, in the fulfillment centers,
in the delivery stations, but also other people,
like the people who drive the trucks between the locations.
And they are often not in the focus
of normal trade unions, or the usual trade union work.
But we want to reach them,
even if officially they have a different employer than Amazon
- mostly Eastern European subcontractors -
they are still part of the total workforce of Amazon.
This is one of the very few “Air Hubs” in Europe.
We see two Amazon aircrafts.
This is also symptomatic to the development of Amazon,
because it's really expanding in the last year into the first mile,
middle mile and last mile in the global logistic chain.
And this is another symptomatic feature of Amazon development.
So you see more and more trucks with Amazon logo.
We see an airplane with Amazon logo.
There is more and more infrastructure but they don't want to have their own workers.
Most of the truckers here, they work for subcontractors or for temp work.
A lot of workers here in the warehouse
also work for temp work agencies.
We are against this.
We as Amazon Workers International demand stability.
We we think that temporary contracts
are not justified in such a company
which is growing, which is expanding and can really afford
offering direct employment.
There is no need for cuts in employment.
This is just a way of disciplining workers.
So the workers don't feel
empowered to join the union,
sign the local petition, do anything, just complain.
Talk one on one with managers about their problems.
I was told today
by the Polish worker who has been here for one year
that he doesn't want to be active
because he is sure, if he says something wrong
he will not have his contract prolonged.
<Music playing>
And we don’t know if there is any zebra crossing?
Like in Leipzig that we can deliver from the street
We don’t know that?
Yes, we don’t know.
Because if the warehouse looks like the one in Poznan
where you only can drive to the Amazon property already,
then, I propose, we still go, but we don't go much earlier.
We only - I don't know.
We don't stand there, because the security will come and again
they will chase us.
But if we are there
when workers are leaving in a bigger group,
at least we can talk to them, no?
Yeah.
Let's go.
You can look for our weaknesses under every stone.
And behave, be happy, with only crumbs of the cake.
You can go to work sweetly and silently,
as the masters instruct you.
And when we stand outside again, tear your mouths apart.
You can put obstacles in our way...
It's almost 4:20 pm, the day shift is about to end.
It is the third warehouse today, previously we were in Leipzig,
now we are in Magdeburg.
We've been handing out our newspapers from Amazon Workers International (AWI)
since early this morning, so we'll see how the workers here will receive us.
Amazon Workers International is, as the name suggests,
a transnational alliance
consisting of many European nations
in which Amazon is active.
We have the goal
to coordinate our activities internationally
in such a way that we can achieve the corresponding effects.
Amazon is very communicative internally,
there are very clear guidelines from the headquarters.
If we want to hold something against this
we have to be just as active and communicative with each other
and we have to coordinate our joint activities.
You can't stop us from striking for our right.
You can't turn the clock back,
you do not change the times.
No matter what you do,
you are not pulling us down.
We are withstanding this boxing match, all 15 rounds.
Maybe you can slow us down.
But you won't stop us.
And when you think we can't take it any more, we'll go one better.
We are far from finished.
Still have so many ideas, may the road be long and hard,
we will go further and if the night is still dark.
At some point the day will come
and the next destination on our way
is the collective wage agreement.
Amazon Caravan