November 2, 2024

Dear Friends and Family,

An essential element of progress is accountability.

So, as to my stance on not having the Kayla’s full name, the Amazon Executive HR Investigator assigned to address numerous concerns, such as: health and safety issues; pay discrepancies; prior incidents; harassment; and retaliation for union organising. All of which I brought to the attention of Amazon’s CEO, Mr. Jassy, in my September 2024 letter, in an effort to identify problems in which solutions are in place.  All Amazon has to do is simply come to the table and sign the contract. Thus, I believe that the Executive HR Investigator should be obliged to provide their full name or at the very least provide me with an identification number or something to that effect.  Kayla refused to provide me with these details, placing me in an awkward position. Is an Amazon HR Investigator truly impartial, if they work for Amazon, or are they inherently biassed? After all, they are part of the extensive network of Amazon’s Human Resources Division. Human Resources (HR) is the strategic and coherent approach to the effective and efficient management of people in a company to promote their business gain as a competitive advantage.  HR’s primary focus by design is to maximise employee performance in service of an employer’s strategic objectives. HR also concerns itself with balancing organisational practices with requirements arising from collective bargaining and implementation of labour and governmental laws.

However, on the other hand to be objective, it is an understandable concern for Kayla. I am not the only person who is having issues with safety and health, and being subjected to retaliation and harassment, sexism and racism. This is a big company, a huge one, Amazon employs millions of people worldwide and is ever growing in all sectors of Information Technology , from Artificial Intelligence to the Iron Dome in Israel, with very little industry regulation. Bezos hired the best talent to exploit every conceivable aspect, from their sweet deals with the US Post Office which affect communities from Bolinas, California to Stamford. Connecticut, as well as the numerous state and federal subsidies and incentives for hiring immigrants and a wide swatch of others in vulnerable communities across the United States.  While claiming there is a labour pool shortage in order to  exploit immigrants in the process barely offering them but a few pennies above minimum wage and prepping for job elimination as automation their focus. Amazon subcontractor’s are underpaid as well, from the contracted janitorial services to security, providing a corporate veil. 

I know I am painting a bleak picture but it’s we are going to pull through this. The adage darkest before the dawn applies and while we are moving forward the USA, we must keep in mind that we are a post-colonial slave-based economy which turned into the Prison Industrial Complex of the world’s most powerful military. And it’s governance potentially porting over to corporate global dominance. There have been studies over the years where one group is given power over another, oppression is what follows. This warehouse management style based on penology.  The retaliation when is reinforced by design I have witnessed break good hearted people in the Operations end of Amazon’s warehouse management. God Bless them! This is what drove me to seek the help of the Teamster. To exemplify the tone of “leadership” at SNY5, recently I queried further about our warehouse participation in the Amazon nationwide program “Listen While You Work”, and the Area Manager cautioned me in their retort “…we can always stop playing the music if folks keep complaining…”. So I really do get Kayla’s apprehension and aggressive stance.  We have all grown leary or workplace violence and retaliation. So it is reasonable under these conditions that Amazon will continue to have a lot of workplace violence. And I for one will continue to champion my co-workers here in Melville, New York, and the USA, and worldwide.  I am union proud.  I am Teamster’s Amazon – SNY5 Unite. 

Next, I also take issue with not being allowed to record my HR Ethics interview. I use memo recordings for note taking purposes.  It is difficult to keep track of all that is covered in a conversation  Many corporations record customer service phone calls.  How could recording the investigation be harmful?  And in the age of a Big Brother watching everyone and a prison management mentality please make note that Amazon is recording our interactions while storing inventory and these recordings are reviewed off site in India.  These same recordings have been used to terminate warehouse workers. So why bar a complaint from recording the interaction with the investigators to ensure that everything is on the up and up. 

Make note as of this writing J also from Amazon, the HR CI Division, reached out to me regarding an allegation made against me. It appears a complaint was filed for union organising on September 22, 2024, for discussing a petition I am circulating. J found the complaint was not valid.  Reasons were not provided why he made that determination. However J did provide me with a telephone number, his email and his full name, stating that was policy. I walked him through the ever growing concerns at SNY5.  Such as lack of security at the Delivery Drivers entrance area which in the past led to theft of inventory and an warehouse worker being assaulted by an irate driver who punched her in the face, to the amnesty bins where leaking household chemicals, torn potting soil and fertilisers bags, and damaged batteries are left for days unattended, and warehouse associates work with broken Zebra RF scanners. Hard to fathom that I have been making these complaints for well over one year now.  But there you go.

Proceeding to “connecting the dots”.   John F. Kennedy has been said to have been partial to the Confucius’ quote “May you live in interesting times.”  If I was a conspiracist I would say I got stuck in a sad, sad, twisted story from Jeff Stein’s Spytalk on Substack or Hunger Games. But it’s not, it is rather simple.  Our history is colourful and checked, and we are well on our way in the 21st century.  That looks scary to some folk.  We are debunking false claims, getting healthier, living longer lives, and exploring Quantum Physics, as we prepare for life off earth.  In fact, some groups have taken as far as crafting an Interplanetary Constitution for off-planet living.  

However, while all these advances are being made by leaps and bounds, other parties in key positions are exploiting the very groups they claim to champion. So these are interesting times indeed.  And what a whackazoid I must be for tying all these factors together. But there you go.  I have shared these thoughts in one on one conversations with close family and friends,  the temporary suspended program, The Call,  co-hosts Tammy Simkins, of Chillicothe, Ohio, and Sharon J. Hill, of Powder Springs Georgia, as well in small groups and online chats on Facebook and WhatsApp. 

So how do all these come together?  Let’s start with this Presidential Election and the Equal Rights Amendment.

I will lightly cover my dismay in our nation’s  2024 Presidential Election. Initially alarming was how quickly supporters from both sides became vile, delighting in bashing their candidates’ political rival.  Making satirical memes, justifying their bullying of family members, friends, and followers. When I posted my dismay on the messaging, I was bullied online by a few folk, one a woman priest, who then promptly unfriended me. Then polls claim the Biden – Harris Campaign was leading the charge.  Then Joe Biden’s debate debacle, a complete failure by his team, and the television show producers – –  horrible lighting, terrible miking, and his on screen make-up, this was prime time TV, asleep at the wheel puts it mildly. And George Stephanopoulos subsequent “hit” job, and Biden pleading with him. Then George Clooney leading the Hollywood Pack to withhold monies until Joe stepped down, only served to demonstrate the importance of Citizens United and the problem with our political system. Cause when the money dried up, Joe caved.  

I became disenchanted and undecided. Kamala Harris has not said one word about the Equal Rights Amendment this round, Kamala challenged Joe in 2019 – – instead she focuses on piecemeal solutions that ultimately complicate and fail women.  

And Donald Trump is playing that same tune – crickets.  

I have heard more than my fair share about the Abortion Dilemma, the failed economy and wars in the Middle East and Russian borders, both sides playing into fear. As Franklin Delano Roosevelt said, “There is nothing to fear but fear itself.”  The Abortion Dilemma is an easy fix.  Yeah, that’s right, All that has to take place is in the next Congressional legislative session (2025-2027) for both chambers to vote “Yea!” when removing the deadline on the ERA come to the floor for a vote. It will also greatly improve the economy.  Women are vastly underpaid by their opposite sex co-workers across the nation.  When women earn more, the more they spend. Ever watch the show “Sex and the City”.  So it’s Easy Peasy.  Removing the deadline ensures the passage of the Equal Rights Amendment into the US Constitution and the ERA guarantees equal access to healthcare, equal pay, and a lot, lot more.  And healthcare is between a person and their doctor.  The government has no place in making my healthcare decision.  The kind of protection women need is protection from a government that is interfering in their relationship with their healthcare provider.  

So how does this epic failure of our Congress and the Executive Branch tie into the potentiality of World War III? And do we really have something to fear?  I’ll get to that in Part III. 

This is the Information Age. 

Everyone, everywhere… things are changing. I have an iwatch which operates like a 1940’s Dick Tracy detective gear, I have earbuds that translate instantaneously  like those I watched on Star Trek as a child in the 1960’s, and we have cars that run on electricity like the Jetsons. I am advocating for workers in a time of automation.  And with the American people standing with Unions who will fight for a living wage with great benefits in the AI and Automation end of the Logistics and Supply Chain Industry, with the objective of job growth and the words, “You’re Hired!”  

Right now, it’s time for America to decide who will lead us in these most interesting time indeed. 

Forward in the Spirit of Love and Light,

Helene de Boissiere

P.S.  Please make note of the corrected spelling of Mr. Antonio Rosario, Teamster’s Amazon Division in Part I