“ This is just the commencement of what I ’m indisputable will be slightly of a long engagement , ” New York State Senator Jessica Ramos said addressing a small military press gaggle on Thursday morning . Until recently that statement might have been a reference to the surly and highly public fight to renegociate Amazon ’s black HQ2 hatful . Instead , the new battlefield is a next warehouse the ecommerce giant plan to take over in the residential neighborhood of Woodside , Queens , just over three miles from the site HQ2 was slate to worry .
Unlike the heavily publicized contest of HQ2 , which endocarp city against one another to secure more rich incentives for Amazon , the Woodside installation — the first in Queens — fly under the radar . Amazon reportedly signed the decade - prospicient letting on 91,000 - square - foot warehouse formerly occupy by a wrist watch company inOctober , and did not wring any economic sweeteners out of the borough or city to move there , at least to Senator Ramos ’s knowledge .
Still , Ramos , State Assemblyman and current Public Advocate candidate Ron Kim , and voice from advocacy organizations NYCC , DRUM and ALIGN , ( all mainstays of dissent against HQ2 in New York ) turned out to stand on a bland patch of sidewalk bounded by a UHaul adeptness , a main road , a barbed conducting wire fence , and a cemetery at 11 am . Why ? To strike out at Amazon ’s magnificently anti - union stance , which to some degree may have done the most damage to its chances of open its purport Long Island City headquarters .
Photo: Bryan Menegus (Gizmodo)
“ We know that good Book of Job , good union jobs , stop up being the economic anchors in our communities , and that ’s on the dot what we ’re attend for . This is about end the race to the bottom , ” Ramos aver . “ Today is the first day that we come together to ensure that this storage warehouse is a union chore land site . ”
Retail , Wholesale and Department Store Union , which excellently has been advocating for Amazon workers at the Staten Island warehouse tounionize , also came out to support the effort . “ I think this narrative about ‘ we do n’t want jobs and we want to cut our nose to spite our face ’ is inaccurate . We really do want line , ” Camille Rivera , the National Political and Legislative Director RWDSU , said , push back against similar literary criticism organise at anti - HQ2 politicians who have since been criminate of costing the city 25,000 jobs . “ We desire good jobs , we desire protected jobs , and we require Amazon to be creditworthy when they are number to a city like New York . ” generate the size of the warehouse , Senator Ramos expects the Woodside adroitness to employ around 2,000 mass when it ’s ultimately operable , though no public date be yet for its porta .
Neutrality in the boldness of a union effort was a majorsticking pointbetween the New York City Council and Amazon ’s Brian Huseman during hearings regarding HQ2 .
We ’ve reached out to Amazon to see if they ’d gibe to card verification neutrality at this as - yet unopened readiness . A spokesperson mail along the stick to assertion which did not address our motion :
We cultivate hard every sidereal day to ensure all of our employees are treat fairly and with self-regard and respect , and we have candid and lineal talks with employees around the land . We are gallant to offer a wide variety of work opportunities , which let in full - time and part - time employment , even and flexible scheduling ; workplace - on - site and workplace - from - home ; or be your own boss through our Amazon Flex programme where independent contractors realize between $ 18 to $ 25 per hour delivering Amazon packages . We have also authorize more than 100 new small package delivery line of work that have created K of local driver task , offering competitive pay and benefits . We are attached to continue investing in local aspiring entrepreneurs and creating hundreds of job opportunities with the new Amazon delivery place in Queens .
AmazonJeff Bezos
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