'Amazon Putting Lives Of Workers At Risk': Bezos Pressed On Alarming Lack Of Protections
'Amazon Putting Lives of Workers at Risk': Omar and Sanders Press Bezos on Alarming Lack of Coronavirus Protections.' "No employee, especially those who work for one of the wealthiest corporations in the world, should be forced to work in unsafe conditions." By Jake Johnson, Common Dreams, March 28, 2020.
Rep. Ilhan Omar and Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday led a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos raising concerns that the world's richest man is putting his employees' lives at risk by failing to take adequate safety precautions and provide workers with necessary protective equipment in the midst of the deadly coronavirus pandemic.
Highlighting Amazon's longstanding reputation for unsafe warehouse conditions, Omar, Sanders, and a dozen other Democratic lawmakers said they are worried that Bezos has not put in place a sufficient "internal pandemic preparedness and response plan."
"Amazon is putting the lives of workers at risk by exposing them to COVID-19." Rep. Ilhan Omar
"Workers at Amazon warehouses worldwide continue to raise concerns that their employer is not doing enough to protect them from exposure to COVID-19," the lawmakers wrote (pdf), pointing to a petition signed by more than 1,500 workers at the retail behemoth demanding paid sick leave for all employees, childcare benefits, hazard pay, and facility shut-downs if a worker tests positive for coronavirus.
At least 10 Amazon warehouse workers in the U.S. have tested positive for COVID-19, the Washington Post reported Thursday, and employees have complained that the company has not been transparent about the spread of the virus in their facilities. Last week, Amazon shut down a warehouse in Queens, New York after one employee tested positive, but the facility was reopened the next afternoon after the company carried out what it described as "additional sanitation."
"Amazon's reaction to the coronavirus has left me shocked, scared, and disgusted,' Jana Jumpp, an employee at a fulfillment center in Jeffersonville, Indiana, said during a call with reporters on Wednesday.
Amazon workers told CNBC that the breakneck pace the company demands from warehouse workers leaves little time for handwashing, which the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has emphasized as one of the most important individual self-hygiene steps to help slow the spread of COVID-19.
Amazon is putting the lives of workers at risk by exposing them to COVID-19.
That's why I led a letter with @SenSanders demanding a response plan to protect Amazon workers during this pandemic. pic.twitter.com/yyuOaAmem9 Rep. Ilhan Omar (@Ilhan) March 27, 2020
The letter noted that Amazon's sales in the U.S. have surged "as many Americans turn to the online retail market for essential products as the federal government continues to encourage residents to stay home."...
More, https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/03/27/amazon-putting-lives-workers-risk-omar-and-sanders-press-bezos-alarming-lack
keithbvadu2
(36,360 posts)With Trump's unemployment economy, there are plenty of replacement workers.
Sarcasm?
Or sound business practice?
2naSalit
(86,031 posts)Sorry for those who rely on amazon but you are facilitating this horror by patronizing his business. The jobs are basically slave labor yet everyone is all about the convenience without regard to the damage being done to the workers.
The thing I hope for most when this is over... I hope that a sense of sane action becomes the norm. I can see where we could have a chance at having a green new deal to retool America into a more environmentally consciousness and respect for what we still have. But for now, it's just a hope.
appalachiablue
(41,047 posts)Amazon worship is baffling and dangerous, but libertarian heaven.
2naSalit
(86,031 posts)Amazon, FB and Walmart... things that should disappear soon.
appalachiablue
(41,047 posts)appalachiablue
(41,047 posts)As trillions of dollars were wiped off stock markets some of the worlds richest got lucky, The Guardian, March 27, 2020.
Millions of people across the world have lost their jobs, and trillions of dollars have been wiped off the value of stock markets.
But not everyone has lost out. Jeff Bezos, the worlds wealthiest person, is $5.5bn (£4.3bn) richer today than he was at the start of the year. His paper fortune, held mostly in Amazon shares, rose by $3.9bn on Thursday alone to $120bn enough to buy 188,000 standard gold bars (even taking into account the soaring price of gold).
Bezos, 56, benefited this week from the best three-day stock market rally since 1933 helping Amazons share price to recover almost all of its losses this month to trade at about $1,920, though that was slightly down on their peak of $2,170 in February. Bezos owns about 12% of Amazons shares.
https://www.theguardian.com/business/2020/mar/27/jeff-bezos-sold-34bn-of-amazon-stock-just-before-covid-19-collapse
dalton99a
(81,062 posts)Bezos doesn't give a shit about them, and never has