Open Letter from ONT6

Note from the FACE of Amazon: we wanted to protect the identity of this author because we know how Amazon mistreats union organizers, but we are respecting his insistence that we publish his letter as written without any edits.

This is an open letter from an Amazon.com tier 1 Associate who works at the Ontario 6 Fulfillment Center in Moreno Valley, California. My name is Mark Oglesby (login:moglesby) and I am on the Committee to Unionize the Ontario 6 Fulfillment Center

which will happen sooner or later and so I believe that we cannot be stopped!

And it is concerning this subject that I would like to address my fellow Associates, Process Assistants, Area Managers, Operations managers, Senior Operations Managers, General Manager and all other Amazon.com operatives around the globe: For your approval or not!

In the course of working in the Amazon.com Fulfillments Centers (Ont2 in San Bernardino, ca and Ont6 in Moreno Valley, ca) for the last four and a half years (beginning in October of 2012), I have witnessed much and I feel the need to share my experiences with you at this time. I will begin with a statement that comes to mind nearly everyday if not every hour that I’m working at an Amazon.com site: “I’ve never worked for anyone whose behavior is so completely if not utterly reprehensible in its callousness

towards other human beings!”

Now you mighty say, “Take a breath or two as you’re kind of out there!” But really now, as I move about the FC, and I witness the fear and anxiety in people’s faces as they dart about their business; I don’t see my position as being anywhere near extreme! Amazon.com, and especially Ontario 6, creates and maintains an atmosphere of apprehension, worry, concern for ones safety, if not out-right dread and its terror as to ones state of employment and the needed finances that it brings. Shame on those who

orchestrate such misery!

Listen! There is no legitimate reason or cause for this behavior. We as a group are taught survival of the fittest as soon as we walk into the Fulfillment Center. We are instructed to be at war with one another as we compete for the diminutive, insignificant

crumbs which fall off of Amazon’s table! Think about it Associates! How do things work out there? Dog eat dog as we crash into one another attempting to keep pace with those ungodly metrics which call for so many units per hour as the sliding scale continues upwards and you are forced to work faster and faster!

Point of fact! In the beginning when you first start working for TheAmazon, you’re told point-blank: “Safety-Quality- Productivity!” In that order! It’s a lie! They know it! You know it! I know it! If your numbers aren’t there, you won’t be there. And

does it matter that you’re working your heart out and giving everything you’ve got? Never! Fail even once and the journey to your removal from gainful employment begins! Please, get near two years and your shares vesting and watch what’s likely to happen. Get near maxing out at $14.25 an hour and my God! It’s, that is your employment, likely to come crashing down on top of your head!

Clearly! We must not allow this to continue! I am sick and tired of watching the humiliation of hard working people who’ve been trapped in this bureaucratic nightmare! Hard working people whose lives, and that of their families, depend upon their income! A very tiny income I might add! And for someone, say, an Area Manager, to take that income away, in my mind, this action is a crime against humanity. Innocent people, our families, our children, our loved ones suffer! And for what? To make our “leadership” (in quotes because they know nothing about leadership as they are the very antecedent of

such noble qualities) look good for their corporate over-lords!

For you see! The numbers game is solely for those soulless bureaucrats (Area Managers and above; also, HR!) whose personal files we are destroying ourselves to fill! Our first duty is not to the customer or the company or even the shareholders; it’s to the

desolate, austere bureaucrat whose place in the company is also on the line if their numbers aren’t there!

Wake-up! Amazon.com will crumble if we continue to place these inept, mindless bureaucrats in a position where their needs out-weight the needs of everyone else. From the moment merchandise arrives at the FC to the moment it leaves the ship

dock, the bread and butter of this company is in danger of being beaten and broken as everyone speeds to meet the numbers! And for what? The clueless bureaucrat!

Change it or lose it! The Union is the only entity that can and will stop these bureaucrats from destroying this company, Amazon.com! With the Union, stability will be ensured as all begin to establish an ethic which states: This belongs to all of us! Which says: Will must work together for the common good as we must not fight one another just to make a number!

Also! We are entitled, because of our hard work and dedication (we get the job done!), to a seat at the table and an enriching of our pockets as well as are physical and mental well being. Besides, we are human beings deserving of dignity and respect! No

more crumbs off the Amazon table! Our demands will be met as our intention is clear: United We Stand! Divided We Fall!

One last thing! When out on the modes or anywhere in the Fulfillment Center please remember that we are one! Bring courtesy and respect to your fellow Associates as we must demonstrate that we will not be pitted once against the other as so callously

written by John Rossman in The Amazon Way: “By contrast, Amazon.com is a gladiator culture.” We must develop a culture of cooperation and consideration or I don’t care how successful the company is or might become in the future as to quote from the gospel: “What does it profit a man to gain the whole world yet lose his soul?” It profits no one!

Thank you for your time and consideration! We will speak again!

P.S. If you ever have any questions concerning the benefits of being in a Union, please look for me early in the mornings (back-half days), look for the old, bald, ugly white guy reading his various books in the Seasonal Break-room, and I’ll be happy to answer any question you have! Associates, you deserve the best because you are the best!

Sincerely,

Mark Oglesby (login: moglesby)