“We are essential workers, but we’re not receiving essential protection,” said one worker at an Amazon fulfillment center. onesarahjones reports on Amazon's multiplying Amazon’s labor woes
Amazon workers protest in Staten Island on March 30. Photo: Getty Images Amazon’s labor woes are multiplying. According to the Athena Coalition, which represents several progressive organizations that lobby Amazon for better working conditions, over 300 people called out of their shifts at 50 fulfillment centers on Tuesday. It is the biggest mass action by Amazon workers to date and may be a harbinger of pandemic-era protests to come.
Retribution from the tech company has been swift, and controversial. The state of New York is investigating Amazon for its decision to fire Chris Smalls hours after he led a small walkout at his Staten Island fulfillment center. In Minnesota, the company fired a warehouse worker who’d criticized it publicly for its response to the outbreak.
But Camp and other workers say that Amazon’s safety measures aren’t as uniformly implemented as its public statements insist. Though he concedes that Amazon has made “small” changes, he believes the company is capable of more. “The only thing new is the temperature checks, and they put a lot of tape down directing traffic, which is not enough,” he said. He’d prefer the company use a barricade or better enforce its own regulations.
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