Activists plan Joliet Amazon protest early Monday

Another Amazon demonstration at a Joliet warehouse was planned for early Monday.

The event was billed as a worker walkout on a busy Cyber Monday at the MDW2 cross-dock facility in Joliet, located off Route 53 along Emerald Drive.

It was not clear Sunday whether workers would walk off the job or take permitted time off as they did in a so-called walkout staged in October at the same Joliet facility, when about 10 Amazon employees joined 40 activists, including Teamsters union members, in a demonstration.

A demonstration Monday would mark one more display of unrest at the facility where workers also have filed a complaint with the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission about working conditions.

More than 30 workers have filed EEOC complaints related to a May incident. Workers said a death threat appeared on a bathroom wall aimed at black people and used a derogatory term.

A news release from Warehouse Workers for Justice announcing the action to take place Monday included comments from MDW2 worker Montrell Oliver, who said workers want better wages and improved workplace safety from Amazon.

“Until they do, they can bet they’ll continue to hear from us rank and file workers who are demanding better,” Oliver said in the release.

“Along with Black Friday, Cyber Monday marks the beginning of the busy holiday season, which Amazon welcomed this year by laying off 10,000 workers who make the company’s record-breaking profits possible.” said Marcos Ceniceros, executive director of Warehouse Workers for Justice. “This is just a further example of Amazon’s lack of concern about workloads or working conditions as they relentlessly pursue profits over the well-being of the people who make those profits possible.”