The Jefferson County Coroner identified the man who was killed Sunday at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer.
Tyler Neil Alexander, 19, of Birmingham, was shot during an assault, according to Jefferson County Coroner Bill Yates.
Alexander was a graduate of Huffman High School and was working at the center when he was shot in the parking lot.
The Bessemer Police Department responded to the scene at 10:40 p.m. and found Alexander dead on the scene. No suspects are in custody.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), said thoughts and prayers are with the victim and his family, but in part, blamed Amazon.
"For years, workers at BHM1 have raised the alarm about the culture of intimidation and the misplaced priorities of Amazon management," Appelbaum stated. "This tragedy lays bare a sickening irony; Amazon spends millions of dollars on high-tech security, surveillance, and private contractors to protect its bottom line and to keep the union off its property. They have invested untold resources into monitoring workers' every move to ensure maximum productivity and to stifle their voices."
"Yet, despite this massive expenditure on 'security' designed to protect profits and intimidate, the company failed in its most basic responsibility – protecting the actual lives of the people who work there. Amazon's surveillance state is robust enough to track a worker's time off task to the second, but it was apparently not strong enough to prevent a firearm from being brought on to the property and a worker from being shot and killed," he continued. "Workers are tired of being told that their safety is a priority while the company's actions prove otherwise," Appelbaum continued. "When 'security' is used as a tool for labor suppression rather than life safety, the results are catastrophic. Amazon must answer for how its security protocols failed so completely, and they must immediately address the safety concerns that workers have been shouting from the rooftops for years.
"The RWDSU stands with the workers in Bessemer. We will continue to demand a workplace where safety is not just a slogan on a banner, but a fundamental right that is protected with more vigor than an empty cardboard box of promises," Applebaum added.
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