Hi John,
Amazon is failing to stop the spread of COVID-19 in their warehouses.1
Despite 50 facilities having positive COVID cases, warehouse workers continue to pull materials and pack boxes without any personal protective equipment (PPE). Workers’ daily quotas make it impossible to practice social distancing or to regularly wash their hands. To top it off, Amazon has started to lie and hide information about infections in their facilities.2
This is unacceptable. Any warehouse with positive COVID cases needs to be shut down, the facility cleaned, and the workers need to receive full pay during the shutdown. Protective equipment and other safeguards need to be in place upon reopening. Anything less than this is a threat not just to the safety of Amazon's workers but to everyone.3
Tell Governors across the country to close these unsafe facilities and demand Amazon implement public safety measures.
TAKE ACTION
Workers are fighting back. More than 5,000 workers called on Amazon to put protections in place. In Staten Island, Detroit, and Chicago workers went on strike demanding PPE, paid sick leave, social distancing in warehouses, and other safety measures.4,5
Rather than putting safeguards in place, the corporate giant fired the whistleblower who led the strike in Staten Island and expanded surveillance technology to monitor warehouse workers.6,7
Amazon’s inaction puts us all at risk. We need to do something.
Will you stand with workers and demand governors take action to ensure we’re all kept safe?
In solidarity and safety,
Ayele
Footnotes:
1. Bloomberg. https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-04-08/an-amazon-warehouse-is-dealing-with-a-coronavirus-outbreak
2. New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2020/04/05/technology/coronavirus-amazon-workers.html
3. Common Dreams. https://www.commondreams.org/news/2020/04/04/despite-threats-management-amazon-warehouse-workers-chicago-strike-demand-better
4. Medium. https://medium.com/@amazonemployeesclimatejustice/coronavirus-amazon-log-cfdc9a6f4437
5. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/10/21216172/amazon-coronavirus-protests-response-safety-jfk8-fired-covid-19
6. Vice. https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5dm8bx/leaked-amazon-memo-details-plan-to-smear-fired-warehouse-organizer-hes-not-smart-or-articulate
7. Amazon Blog. https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/update-from-amazons-operations-network
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