Derrick Palmer (born 1988 or 1989) is an American labor activist and whistleblower. He was Vice President of Organizing of the Amazon Labor Union. He works at the Amazon JFK8 sorting facility on

Staten Island Staten Island ( ) is the southernmost of the boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City, coextensive with Richmond County and situated at the southernmost point of New York (state), New York. The borough is separated from the ad ...

Early life and education

Palmer grew up in

Piscataway, New Jersey Piscataway ( ) is a Township (New Jersey), township in Middlesex County, New Jersey, Middlesex County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is a suburb of the New York metropolitan area, in the Raritan River, Raritan Valley. As of the 2020 United ...

to a single mother who worked in the

pharmaceutical industry The pharmaceutical industry is a medical industry that discovers, develops, produces, and markets pharmaceutical goods such as medications and medical devices. Medications are then administered to (or self-administered by) patients for curing ...

. In high school, Palmer attempted to play

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

, but said it wasn't for him. His mother enrolled him in

theater Theatre or theater is a collaborative form of performing art that uses live performers, usually actors to present experiences of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place, often a stage. The performers may communi ...

, which he enjoyed and led him to aspire to become an actor. Palmer attended community college, but dropped out.

Activism at Amazon

Palmer joined Amazon in a warehouse in

Robbinsville Township, New Jersey Robbinsville Township is a township in Mercer County, in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It is located on the border of the New York metropolitan area and the Philadelphia metropolitan area. As of the 2020 United States census, the township's p ...

in 2016 where he counted product inventory. He later transferred to

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

's JFK8 warehouse, where he is in singles pack department currently. Derrick packs and water spiders during his work week ensuring customers receive their packages on time. After Palmer's best friend from the warehouse,

Chris Smalls Christian Smalls (born July 4, 1988) is an American labor organizer known for his role in leading Amazon worker organization in Staten Island, a Boroughs of New York City, borough in New York City. He is a co-founder and the former president of ...

, was forced out due to what Amazon said was a violation of the company's social distancing policies, the two decided to start a unionization effort. Together they started the Amazon Labor Union. The JFK8 warehouse voted in favor of unionizing on April 1, 2022. Palmer and

were named two of Time Magazine's 100 most influential people of 2022.

''Palmer v. Amazon''

On June 3, 2020, Palmer and two other colleagues, along with three of their family members, filed a lawsuit against Amazon on behalf of JFK8 employees and their families. They are represented by Make the Road New York, Public Justice, Terrell Marshall Law Group, and Towards Justice. The lawsuit alleged that Amazon "unreasonably" interfered with the workers' right to

public health Public health is "the science and art of preventing disease, prolonging life and promoting health through the organized efforts and informed choices of society, organizations, public and private, communities and individuals". Analyzing the de ...

and failed to follow

Centers for Disease Control and Prevention The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) is the National public health institutes, national public health agency of the United States. It is a Federal agencies of the United States, United States federal agency under the United S ...

recommendations and New York State public health laws, resulting in an alleged breach in Amazon's duty to provide a safe working environment. The lawsuit was dismissed on November 2, 2020, after Judge

Brian Cogan Brian M. Cogan (born April 22, 1954) is a senior United States district judge of the United States District Court for the Eastern District of New York who joined that court in 2006. Education and career Cogan was born in 1954 in Chicago. He ...

determined the jurisdiction was with the

Occupational Safety and Health Administration The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA; ) is a regulatory agency of the United States Department of Labor that originally had federal visitorial powers to inspect and examine workplaces. The United States Congress established ...

. The legal team filed an

appeal In law, an appeal is the process in which Legal case, cases are reviewed by a higher authority, where parties request a formal change to an official decision. Appeals function both as a process for error correction as well as a process of cla ...

on November 24, 2020.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Palmer, Derrick 1980s births Living people African-American activists African-American trade unionists Amazon (company) people American social justice activists American trade unionists People from Piscataway, New Jersey Trade unionists from New Jersey American workers' rights activists 21st-century African-American people 21st-century American people Year of birth missing (living people)