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Read All About It! AMS News and Local Updates

Series: What B Corporations do for the World #2

August 26, 2020

Series: What B Corporations do for the World #1

August 20, 2020

AMS’ safety record is no accident: Workforce safety during COVID #3

August 19, 2020

AMS’ safety record is no accident: Workforce safety during COVID #2

August 12, 2020

Congrats!! Director of Facilities & Director of VAS

August 6, 2020

Welcome to AMS: Tony Shepherd and Lisa Michelle Zeta

July 30, 2020

AMS’ Safety Record is no Accident: Workforce Safety during COVID

July 29, 2020

AMS Joins B Lab in Committing to Justice and Anti-Racism

July 23, 2020

AMS Fulfillment: Notice on Universal Postal Union Rate Action

July 8, 2020

USMCA: Supporting Small and Medium Sized Business

July 7, 2020

AMS Installs Dividers for Employee Protection

June 30, 2020

AMS – Celebrating Pride Month

June 17, 2020

August 26, 2020

Series: What B Corporations do for the World #2

For AMS Fulfillment, being good for the world for the past few months has meant placing extraordinary effort into the safety of our employees and the changing needs of our clients. As an ‘essential business’ AMS Fulfillment is working at high speed to serve the needs of all of our people.

B Corporations are dedicated to the ideal of being good for the world, holding to a higher standard that does not put profit above people and the environment. The B Corporation community is made up of all types of businesses, big and small. In this series of blogs we will share information about what some of these businesses are doing to be of service in their own way.

The following three articles from the “B The Change” website demonstrate a very wide spectrum of service. The first is about the B Corp, Stonyfield Farm and how that company has dealt with the dairy market troubles due to COVID. The 2nd is about a business called Creature Comforts Brewery – a B Corp that hosts community organizations and organizes volunteers. The third is about Flock Freight; a company that is working hard on green shipping practices.

We hope you enjoy learning about the B Corp community.

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How Strong Relationships with Organic Farms Can Build a More Resilient Dairy Market

B Corp Stonyfield Farm Avoided Dairy Market Troubles During COVID-19 Through Sustainable Supplier Network

When COVID-19 emerged, the stay-at-home orders that closed most schools and many workplaces meant more of us were eating at home, ordering less at restaurants and buying more at local grocery stores. In the wake of this sudden change, many farmers who supply restaurants and schools faced a halt in orders and scrambled to find new outlets for their products. So even as shoppers flocked to grocery stores, the existing supply chain structure posed a distribution challenge and led to increasing food waste as some farmers had to destroy their crops, dump milk and throw out perishable items that couldn’t be stored or moved to new outlets in time. Read the full article here.

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Brewing a Successful New Idea: Customers Can Be Great Volunteers

Creature Comforts Brewery Develops a Model of Community Engagement

The brewery is in an old warehouse — a former car dealership — in downtown Athens, Georgia. In pre-coronavirus times, customers gather at a bar and big wooden tables. Every Wednesday, those tables host representatives of community organizations, from homeless shelters to a student enrichment program. They educate brewery patrons about their organizations’ work and involve interested customers in a volunteer activity: for example, making a blanket for the local homeless shelter or preparing sack lunches for underprivileged children. Read the full article here.

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The Missing Piece in Any Sustainable Supply Chain: Shared Truckload

B Corp Flock Freight Aims to Transform Freight Industry

America’s freight industry is in no position to ignore its impact on the environment and the greater good. Luckily, at least one logistics provider is committed to reducing the industry’s carbon footprint. Flock Freight is transforming the $400 billion freight landscape by eliminating inefficiency and waste through green shipping practices. The company’s shared truckload shipping solution — which enables several shippers to share trailer space in one full semi-truck — helps businesses meet their freight needs without overconsuming natural resources. Read the full article here.

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In future blogs we will continue to share articles about the outstanding efforts of B Corporations during this important time.

August 20, 2020

Series: What B Corporations do for the World #1

At AMS, we speak often about being a B-Corporation, and our dedication to the ideal of being good for the world. During this crisis period, our responsibility has been to value the health and wellbeing of our employees, and respond to the rapidly changing needs of our clients. In our last communication we talked about the steps we have taken.

What does it mean to be a B Corporation? The B Corp does not need a law passed to require respect for employee safety and health, respect for the client or customer, and respect for the community and environment. This respect is inherent; it is a higher standard voluntarily undertaken by management and employees – to be a business that is good for the world; one that values the human being and our Earth.

As a B Corporation AMS is part of a large community, made up of all types of businesses. In this series of blogs we will share information about what our community is doing during this time. Please enjoy the following information, re-posted from the “Be The Change” website.

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When shutdowns closed schools, disrupted the economy, and revealed social inequalities, Certified B Corporations saw the need for innovation and action — in their communities, their workplaces, and their industries. They have stepped up to fill in, serving as an example of what stakeholder capitalism looks like in action.

How B Corps Fill the Gaps When Classrooms Are Closed

As COVID-19’s emergence last spring forced the closure of schools and child care centers across the U.S. and Canada, people young and old felt their absence in many ways — from education to mental health to food services. Learn more about Certified B Corporations that are stepping up to help fill some of the gaps for families as they head into the new school year. Read the full article here.

How Retail Stores Can Protect Workers

Athleta has faced a challenge familiar to many retail companies throughout the pandemic: How to keep stores open and workers employed while keeping employees and customers safe. On B The Change, read Christopher Marquis’ interview with Emily Allbritten, Athleta’s manager of strategic opportunities, about how the company’s B Corp values shape its business decisions during more routine times and amid the current economic challenges. Read the full article here.

COVID-19 Business Response Keeps Families in Mind: B Corps Adapt by Adopting and Adjusting Policies

COVID-19’s impacts range much deeper than the outbreak numbers, as nearly a third of the U.S. workforce has children at home. Many of those parents are, of course, also employees who must juggle work and family responsibilities that at times may seem impossible — especially for single parents, essential workers who cannot work remotely, and others with nontraditional schedules. Read the full article here.

How 1% Can Collectively Make a Difference for the Environment

In 2002, Yvon Chouinard, founder of Patagonia, and Craig Mathews, founder of Blue Ribbon Flies, created 1% for the Planet, starting a global movement to inspire organizations and individuals to support environmental nonprofit solutions through annual membership and everyday actions. Member companies pledge to give 1% of their total annual sales to environmental nonprofit partners. In 2019 alone, more than 3,000 members of the 1% for the Planet community spread among more than 40 countries gave over $27 million. Read the full article here.

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At AMS we want to build a stronger than ever foundation for a better world, and that involves communication. AMS Management is never too busy to listen and learn, and this too, is what it means to be a B Corporation.

August 19, 2020

AMS’ safety record is no accident: Workforce safety during COVID #3

In our previous blog we talked about how we accomplished work station distancing on our assembly lines and how we worked with our clients and they worked with us so there would be no loss in efficiency.

When the pandemic was first announced, one of the greatest concerns was contacting the virus through touching a surface. In this week’s blog we’ll cover the steps AMS has taken to sanitize surfaces and help employees clean and sanitize their hands.

Preventing Hand Contact

One of the first steps we took at AMS was to open up more bathroom facilities, and bring in portable “studio” grade bathroom trailers to allow less use of existing locations, and making it easier to keep all locations sanitized. We also placed air purifiers in all bathrooms. Another step we took immediately was to place additional hand washing/sanitizing stations, pumps and wipes in our buildings for convenient and frequent hand hygiene.

AMS hired a 3rd Party cleaning agency to first do a deep cleaning in each building, and then provide 2-3 people onsite at each building each day to provide incremental sanitizing and cleaning services, and we developed a checklist for all high-risk common touch areas that must get sanitized a minimum of 4x per day. Another safety step that we took immediately was to put a hold on returns processing so that packages returning from residences would be held for 72 hours prior to processing.

Throughout this process, from the early months until today, our employees and our clients have been grateful and very cooperative in implementing changes to protect lives. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, AMS had a great safety record of only one lost time injury in two and a half years, and thankfully our safety record during the pandemic has been excellent. With 400+ employees in the organization, we have had very few individual cases, and we are confident that they did not arise from within the workplace.

In our next blog we will talk about social and meeting spaces, shared meals, and working from home.

Click here to access the LA County recommendations for business

August 12, 2020

AMS’ safety record is no accident: Workforce safety during COVID #2

In our last blog we talked about some of the challenges AMS faced when it became clear that we needed to acquire and use personal protective equipment (PPE). At that time it also became clear that we needed to get our employees stationed at least six feet apart.

Work Station Distancing and Sheilds

In early March AMS put in place work station distancing, restructuring assembly lines to accommodate the 6’ rule. We also enforced the distancing rule during breaks and lunches.

Marco Pelaez, Vice President of Operations, talked about the process:

“We assembled two 20 footer electric conveyors together to apply the 6’ distance requirement, using only 12 people. We also advised our clients that we no longer were able to run two lines at the same time as we needed to keep the social distance and to keep our employees safe. We also asked our clients to get a longer lead time to complete all assembly jobs.”

When asked about work station barriers, Marco said: “One of our vendors sent us the link for the barriers and we purchased them right away.” Regarding any loss of efficiency, Marco said, “We did not lose any efficiency as our clients agreed to have a longer shipping window so it was no efficiency loss. Even though there had to be longer turn around times our clients sincerely appreciated the fact that we continued shipping and getting packages out despite the challenges we were facing.”

Marco concluded, “Safety is our number one priority. While quality and productivity are our goals, they will never take precedence over the safety of our employees. Our commitment extends from our executive management team to the entire AMS family. Every day we review the effectiveness of our efforts, and if needed we increase the safety measures and tools that keep our employees protected at work.”

Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, AMS had a great safety record of only one lost time injury in two and a half years, and thankfully our safety record during the pandemic has been excellent. With 400+ employees in the organization, we have had very few individual cases, and we are confident that they did not arise from within the workplace.

In our next blog we will talk about installing sanitizing stations and providing additional bathroom facilities.

Click here to access the LA County recommendations for business

August 6, 2020

Congrats!! Director of Facilities & Director of VAS

Keith Echegaray, Director of VAS and Special Projects

Keith has been with AMS for over eight years, serving as Inventory/Receiving Clerk, Shipping Lead, Operations Supervisor, Asst. Operations Manager and Operations Manager.

His new role consists of working with all buildings with large VAS (Value Added Services) jobs as well as special projects. The special projects will include helping buildings launch new accounts coming on board with AMS. Keith will be helping establish the processes and efficiencies for these accounts. He is excited to work closer with the IT team to help bridge the communication gap between Operations, IT and Client Services.

Keith is a single father who enjoys traveling and taking his son camping, hiking and off roading (pre pandemic). He describes his dedication to his son and his work as “…pretty much my life in a nutshell.”

Marco Pelaez, Vice President of Operations had this to say about the importance of Keith’s position:

With Keith in his new position, it will allow AMS to introduce our new technology into the operations process, training key people and implementing new processes and procedures. Keith will also be managing and quoting all VAS (value-added services) jobs across all buildings. Keith has served AMS in many ways over the years, and we are excited to see him in his new position.

Mark Fese, Director of Facilities

Mark first came to AMS as temporary help to fill a maintenance helper position. When the temporary job ended, he was brought back and hired officially in 2013. One year later he was promoted to a Maintenance Technician, and two years later he was again promoted to Maintenance Supervisor. Ten months later he was promoted Facilities/Security Manager where he remained until this recent promotion to Director of Facilities in July of 2020.

Prior to his employment at AMS, Mark was a custom cabinetmaker for 15 years. He opened his own shop with a team of 15-20 employees in the Santa Clarita area until his Mother become ill in 2008, and he sold his portion of the business in order to take care of her. Mark has been married to his wife Sherilyn for nearly 33 years, and they have two grown children and five grandchildren.

About his new position, Mark said, “I’m excited to take on the challenges of my new role and work hard to ensure all facility systems improve making AMS a Safe, Organized, Clean and Enjoyable workplace for all AMS employees.”

Ken Wiseman, AMS Chief Workforce Development Officer, offered his words of appreciation:

We are so pleased to see Mark rerouted to a Director. His intense passion and acumen for solving our Security, Maintenance, and Facility challenges makes him an extremely valuable member of our AMS team.

July 30, 2020

Welcome to AMS: Tony Shepherd and Lisa Michelle Zeta

Anthony (Tony) Shepherd, Chief Financial Officer:

Chief Financial Officer is a vital executive position at any company. We are so pleased and fortunate to have Tony Shepherd join the AMS family.

In June of 2020, Tony joined AMS as our CFO. He came to us as a hands-on, results-oriented finance professional with over 29 years of financial management, consulting and investment banking experience. He has worked in numerous industries in phases from start-up to growth to turnaround and restructuring,

Tony is a seasoned finance executive with extensive experience in accounting, corporate finance, middle market investment banking/M&A, private equity, restructuring and turnaround, human resource management and information systems management. He holds an MBA from the Stanford Graduate School of Management, a B.A. in Business-Economics from UCLA, and is also a California CPA.

AMS CEO, Jay Catlin, had this to say about our new CFO:

I am very excited to have Tony on board. He brings a strong and diverse background in finance, with nearly 30 years of experience within a variety of industries, and 15+ of those years serving in the role of CFO. Most of Tony’s CFO experience has been with businesses that were majority-owned by private equity, like AMS. Tony is a friendly, high character individual who fits in well within the culture of AMS, and he’s excited to be part of a B-Corporation that is on a mission to Do Good while we do well as a business.

Welcome to the AMS family Tony Shepherd !!

Lisa Michelle Zeta, Employee and Operations Development Manager

Lisa came to AMS from Goodwill Southern California. In her role, she operated an America’s Job Center of California as the Program Manager. In that capacity, she partnered with organizations and companies in the community to provide economic advancement to individuals with barriers to employment. Lisa’s job was to oversee the youth, adult and business development programs, and in this role she worked with and came to know AMS.

Her job title at AMS is Employee and Operations Development Manager, responsible for linking AMS to County and Workforce programs that benefit our company and employees; programs that provide those in the community who are in need of a second chance to gain new skills, to join the workforce at AMS. In addition, Lisa will learn and manage the system that tracks all of the amazing training we offer our AMS community and showcase our B-Corp contribution.

Lisa describes herself as “…a fun, adventurous, people-loving gal, committed to make a difference in the community. Empathy and listening are my jam. I am married to Brent, my oak, who keeps me grounded. I have 4 grown kids, one entering Canyon High, and Charlie, our Jack Russel Terrorist.” She sums it up by saying, “I joined AMS because your heart to serve your employees and community at large align with my vision and values.”

Ken Wiseman, AMS Chief Workforce Development Officer, had this to say:

We have been working with Lisa for a few years now. In her role at Goodwill Industries as Program Manager, America’s Job Center of California, she was very involved in implementing County and State Workforce Development programs with AMS, the largest programs being our Apprentice and Pre-Apprentice programs. Her enthusiasm, passion for teaching and coaching, and experience in working with people that are looking for opportunities to grow make her an outstanding candidate for joining our HR team and the AMS family.

Carmen Kernek, Director of Human Resources, added the following:

Lisa’s position is very important to AMS as it will provide more focus on both employee and organizational development and programs. She is a bright addition to the team and compliments the team very well with her knowledge and expertise.

Welcome to the AMS family Lisa !!

July 29, 2020

AMS’ Safety Record is no Accident: Workforce Safety during COVID

When the pandemic was declared and the CDC released guidelines for business, we put the recommendations in place in our offices, gathering spaces and warehouses. From our experience, the risk to essential workers can be diminished greatly with the right action. We are pleased to offer this blog series as and example for others to utilize in creating a safe warehouse environment.

Personal Protective Equipment – PPE

For the past four months AMS has required facemasks and encouraged gloves. When the pandemic was first declared we had gloves and masks in stock, so early on we could provide PPE for anyone who requested it. Soon, when it became clear that masks should be strongly encouraged, it also became clear that getting more masks might be difficult. Gloves, on the other hand, were only recommended if the employee desired, as contact infection had become less of a concern. Frequent hand washing and glove replacement is still strongly encouraged at AMS.

Marco Pelaez, Vice President of Operations, describes the challenge:

Yes, with our purchasing department (Veronica Lopez) and myself googling for masks every day from 6:00 AM, we were able to purchase enough masks to keep our employees safe. Then we found a local T-shirt manufacturer who created 600 washable cloth masks with our AMS logo, and we also purchased about 600 bandanas for our employees. It was Veronica doing the majority of the work and searching. She has done an excellent job for AMS.

Carmen Kernek, Human Resources Director, offered her perspective:

We began requiring PPE/Masks, as well as checking everyone’s temperature (including outside vendors) in March and while it was new and some employees were skeptical, and did not want to wear them, they certainly have expressed how genuinely happy they are that we care enough about their safety, health and wellbeing to implement new and consistent safety measures. At this point, we now know this is the new norm for our environment, until a preventive treatment is created/tested and approved. We are all aware, here at AMS, that wearing the proper PPE is not an option, it’s a must to keep our AMS family safe and healthy.

Our next blog will be about implementing social distancing in the warehouse and installing protective barriers.

July 23, 2020

AMS Joins B Lab in Committing to Justice and Anti-Racism

Recently B Lab (the organization that created B Corporation) shared a unified anti-racism statement as follows:

“As an organization, we stand against anti-Black racism and all forms of oppression including transphobia, classism, sexism, and xenophobia. We commit to a focused and sustained action to dismantle racist systems, policies, practices, and ideologies within ourselves and our networks. As we continue to learn about injustice, we embrace radical reorientation of our consciousness and will listen to the voices of Black, Brown, Indigenous and marginalized peoples to catalyze equitable outcomes for all.”

Another quote from a previous article explains a bit more about B Lab and B Corporations:

“B Lab has always been a proponent of change — that change has been directed toward capitalism. Capitalism and racism can be seen as “conjoined twins,” and that “… the origins of racism cannot be separated from the origins of capitalism … the life of capitalism cannot be separated from the life of racism” (Kendi, 2019).”

Even though AMS Fulfillment became a B Corporation 3 years ago, our mission has always been in alignment with the B Lab viewpoint, rejecting the inhumane concept of ‘profit above all’. The following quote is from the AMS website.

“Since opening our doors for business we have worked to create a principled corporate culture, recognizing that financial performance and growth are not goals unto themselves, but merely outcomes achievable through uncompromising attention to our customers, our organization, our community and ourselves.”

Recently AMS employees held a “March for Change” in response to the police murder of George Floyd and the racism that motivated it. The employees made signs and marched from their various warehouse locations to meet together, enjoy a ‘social distanced’ lunch and listen to remarks on racism and police brutality from Jeffrey Forrest, VP of Economic and Workforce Development at SCV’s College of the Canyons. AMS’ Chief Workforce Development Officer, Ken Wiseman had this to say:

“As we march into the future and visualize the world we want to live in, what is it we will want to see in this new world? We know we will need all of us acting like family. We will need kindness; we need to listen to each other. We will need to look for ways we can create opportunities for those that need our help. We will need to shed our biases, both conscious and unconscious. We will need to treat people like we want to be treated.”

The AMS Diversity and Inclusivity Program has been very active for over 15 months. We had a Diversity and Inclusivity Breakfast on Tuesday, July 21 and will continue this program by hosting monthly meetings for all employees to attend.

The goal is to train participants on how to build inclusive teams, facilitate diversity-related conversations within their divisions, and identify other practices that can promote a positive workplace culture. It is a voluntary program intended to equip participants with knowledge and information allowing them to intervene when they see bias or harassment unfolding, and training them how to talk to others about organizational diversity.

In spirit AMS has always been a B Corporation. We are happy to see the B Lab anti-racism statement, and happy to share it with our clients, community and workforce, reiterating our commitment to enact change and build a more just world for all people.

Click here to read the statement.

July 8, 2020

AMS Fulfillment: Notice on Universal Postal Union Rate Action

The following Rate Action Notice is of interest to all international shippers that are using International Postal Services and/or those governed under the Universal Postal Union (UPU). This would include DHL eCommerce and Passport international services.

The UPU Rate Case will be in effect July 26, 2020. The timing of this rate action is in alignment with postal service providers’ price changes as a result of the Universal Postal Union (UPU) vote to allow for postal entities to transition to self-declared rate models.

This action means that all countries are now allowed to (self declare) or set their own rate models going forward. This change will have some effect with certain countries based on the shipping methods used. We are seeing a larger impact on rate increases for those using the International Standard DDU services. However, the International Parcel Direct Service will have minimal or very slight changes.

We have been working with both DHL eCommerce and APC Passport on dynamic routing, which will help to navigate through the UPU Rate Case. The UPU Rate Case is impacting the industry in that all postal carriers’ rates will increase, some more than others. DHL eCommerce network built with layers of redundancy will allow for more favorable pricing than postal carriers, solely dependent on USPS services.

The DHL eCommerce Parcel International Standard Services will be affected as these services use international postal lanes, however, the DHL eCommerce Parcel International Direct services will have little to no change due to our direct injection routes. We will help guide our clients as to the best shipping strategy utilizing DHL eCommerce or APC Passport suite of services.

July 7, 2020

USMCA: Supporting Small and Medium Sized Business

July 1, 2020 is an important date for US small and medium-sized businesses. As of this date, the United States–Mexico–Canada Agreement (USMCA) has entered into force.

USMCA is a modernization of NAFTA into an agreement that the State Parties believe will lead to freer markets, fairer trade, and robust economic growth in North America. A fact sheet on the agreement can be found on the website of the Office of the US Trade Representative. Regarding small and medium-sized businesses, the document states:

“Increasing the de minimis level with key trading partners like Mexico and Canada is a significant outcome for United States small- and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). These SMEs often lack resources to pay customs duties and taxes, and bear the increased compliance costs that low, trade-restrictive de minimis levels place on lower-value shipments, which SMEs often have due to their smaller trade volumes.”

The de minimus rule states that if a discount is less than 0.25% of the face value for each full year from the date of purchase to maturity, then it is too small (that is, de minimis) to be considered a market discount for tax purposes. Instead, the accretion should be treated as a capital gain.

The document goes on to state:

“Canada will raise its de minimis level for the first time in decades, from C$20 to C$40 for taxes. Canada will also provide for duty free shipments up to C$150. Mexico will continue to provide USD $50 tax free de minimis and also provide duty free shipments up to the equivalent level of USD $117. Shipment values up to these levels would enter with minimal formal entry procedures, making it easier for more businesses, especially small- and medium-sized ones, to be a part of cross-border trade.”

We’re very pleased to share this good news with our clients and the public, and we encourage those interested in cross-border trade to look into the new agreement and its benefits:

“New traders, just entering Mexico’s and Canada’s markets, will also benefit from lower costs to reach consumers. United States express delivery carriers, who carry many low-value shipments for these traders, also stand to benefit through lower costs and improved efficiency.”

Read the full fact sheet here:

June 30, 2020

AMS Installs Dividers for Employee Protection

When the COVID-19 pandemic began, and AMS was deemed essential, the company scrambled to implement all of the CDC recommendations for businesses. We quickly placed hand washing and sanitizing stations throughout the warehouses and installed more bathrooms. We changed around workstations for distancing and we restructured assembly lines; we brought in a 3rd party cleaning agency and sanitized high-touch areas; we provided gloves and masks as soon as we could get them – everything that could be done, we did.

Recently we took two more steps to protect our warehouse workers – the AMS team located appropriate dividers and had them installed on the assembly lines and in the lunchroom. Protecting the health of our essential workers, the men and women who have stood with us through these extreme times, remains our top priority. There has been no indication of a spread taking place within the company, and we are thankful for that.

Our VP of Operations at AMS West, Marco Pelaez, has been dedicated to keeping our associates safe at the workplace. Marco has the full support of the company as he continues to make our environment as safe as possible.

In a recent communication to all associates, AMS CEO Jay Catlin encouraged everyone as follows:

“Let’s continue to stay vigilant in our fight against COVID-19… keep your hands clean and masks on please, especially when you’re speaking with others!! It’s natural to want to pull your mask down when speaking with someone… easier to be heard, more comfortable… but this is precisely when you need to keep the mask in place. The warm months are coming and we understand that wearing a mask isn’t ideal in that environment. AMS will be sourcing and supplying masks that are not quite as heavy as our “Safety First AMS” cloth masks, giving some level of comfort to our Team members out on the floor.

“

June 17, 2020

AMS – Celebrating Pride Month

As AMS celebrates Pride Month, we also join in the celebration of the Supreme Court decision that workers cannot be fired for being gay or transgender. AMS places high value on our diverse workforce, and we are very pleased to see Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 upheld and clarified.

AMS has long stood for Diversity, Equality, and Inclusion and our commitment is to continue, and always look for ways we can do better. At the recent AMS ‘March for Change’ event Ken Wiseman, Chief Workforce Development Officer, spoke on our commitment to do better both as a B-Corporation and a corporate family. Ken promised to take intentional steps to ensure better inclusion: “Acceptance of a diverse and inclusive workplace will be a condition of being in this family.”

In the past, while LGBTQ workers in many locations were protected by local laws that prohibit discrimination based on sexual orientation or gender identity, there was no federal law that explicitly barred LGBTQ workers from being fired on the basis of sexual orientation or gender identity. Now that failing has been overcome by a decision of the Court. Diversity is one of the ways that B-Corporations serve to better the world, so this is indeed a month for celebrations within the B-Corp community.

As employers with a long-time commitment to diversity, AMS knows from experience that a diverse workforce creates a stronger corporate family. We have a stronger company and a happier family because of the diverse talent, diverse backgrounds, and diverse experiences of our teams today, and we intend to continue on that foundation and improve whatever needs improvement as we go forward.

Pride Month is important to all of us because it marks the start of huge change in society as well as within the LGBT+ community. The Pride celebrations began as a tribute to those involved in the Stonewall Riots, occurring in response to a raid on a gay bar called the Stonewall Inn. In 1969 raids were routine, but this time the patrons fought back. It was a message of rebellion, letting society know that harassment and intimidation would no longer be allowed.

This victory is celebrated every June with parades, festivals and concerts going on across the globe. The message of these events: Although attitudes and injustice still remain, we have come a long way since the riots of 1969 and by continuing in this long standing tradition we continue to raise awareness, improve the attitudes of society and encourage inclusiveness.

Many Pride 2020 events have been cancelled, due to COVID-19, but there has been a calendar of virtual events during the month. Coming up on June 27 the Global Pride virtual celebration will be taking place. The Global Pride virtual celebration will be live-streamed and is set to include speeches, musical performances and appearances from human rights activists. More information is available HERE.

We hope you will join with AMS employees in celebrating the virtual events commemorating the brave stand taken against harassment and intimidation more than 50 years ago. The years have brought many changes, and yet we can and must to do better… to Be the change we wish to see in the world.