June 21, 2023
Saying Amazon warehouses have an abysmal security document, US Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vermont, introduced an investigation into working circumstances on the firm’s services. Sanders chairs the Senate Committee on Well being, Training, Labor and Pensions, which is dealing with the investigation. Sanders wrote a letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy elevating plenty of issues and searching for knowledge as a part of the investigation. Amazon strongly disagrees with the letter.
“The corporate’s quest for earnings in any respect prices has led to unsafe bodily environments, intense stress to work at unsustainable charges and insufficient medical consideration for tens of 1000’s of Amazon staff yearly,” Sanders wrote within the letter. “The time has come for Amazon to cease willfully violating office security legal guidelines with impunity and decide to altering its operations to guard the well being and security of its staff.”
Provided that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, price practically $150 billion, ranks as one of many world’s richest males and Amazon is price $1.3 trillion, the corporate “needs to be one of many most secure locations in America to work, not some of the harmful,” Sanders wrote.
Amazon warehouse workers suffered extra severe accidents than all different warehouse staff within the US mixed, in keeping with Sanders.
In an announcement to SIA, Amazon mentioned it has reviewed the letter and strongly disagreed with it.
“We take the protection and well being of our workers very severely,” Amazon mentioned within the assertion. “There’ll at all times be methods to enhance, however we’re pleased with the progress we’ve made which features a 23% discount in recordable accidents throughout our US operations since 2019. We’ve invested greater than $1 billion into security initiatives, initiatives and packages within the final 4 years, and we’ll proceed investing and inventing on this space as a result of nothing is extra necessary than our workers’ security.”
Amazon mentioned Sanders has a standing invitation to tour considered one of its facilites. The corporate additionally notes that Sanders cites knowledge from the Strategic Organizing Middle — a coalition of three labor unions, the SEIU, CWS and UFW.
Amazon additionally mentioned it launched a security, well-being and well being report masking knowledge from 2022. As well as, it launched a weblog concerning serving to staff throughout summer season warmth.
The committee is demanding that Amazon present details about damage and turnover charges at its warehouses, the connection between the extraordinarily quick tempo of labor demanded of its staff and damage charges, and the medical care offered at its on-site medical clinics.
Among the many questions requested within the letter, Amazon was requested to offer the full variety of workers or contractors who’ve been handled underneath the corporate’s Amcare program or different on-site first help or medical care. Amcare is a program of on-site clinics at Amazon warehouses.
This announcement comes as earlier this week new safeguards went into place for warehouse staff in New York.
