John,
While employees across the country are returning to work with new virus prevention guidelines, Amazon workers are still fighting for basic protections. When frontline workers aren’t in a safe and protected workplace, we’re all put in danger.1
Demand Congress pass legislation to protect frontline workers exposing dangerous conditions that could lead to increased COVID-19 related infections and death.
The delivery drivers and warehouse workers continue to pull goods, pack boxes, and deliver packages without proper masks, gloves, regular opportunities to wash their hands, or policies necessary to effectively practice social distancing. These dangerous conditions expose us all to the virus.
Workers are fighting back. They are striking, holding mass sick-outs, and speaking out to protect themselves and the public. Instead of implementing basic safety measures, Amazon’s response has been to fire those leading these efforts and expand surveillance technology to monitor all warehouse employees.2,3,4
Retaliation and workplace surveillance create an environment of fear and suppresses workers ability to speak out.5
Lawmakers need to act. Tell Congress to stop retaliation against workers speaking out about conditions that could exacerbate the spread of COVID-19.
TAKE ACTION
The worker’s warnings are real. This week the seventh confirmed Amazon warehouse worker died from the virus. We have no way of knowing if there have been more COVID related deaths.6
The corporate giant refuses to release the actual total number of workers infected or who have died from the coronavirus. And they obscure notifications given to workers－using phrases like “multiple cases reported” instead of acutal counts to prevent totals from being determined.7
Without this information, it is impossible to assess the threat Amazon’s failure to put health and safety protections in place poses. This kind of corporate masking only further substantiates the importance of frontline workers sounding the alarm about unsafe conditions posing a threat to public health.8
To survive this pandemic we need workers to feel safe in alerting the public. Demand Congress pass legislation to protect frontline workers.
In solidarity and safety,
Ayele at Fight for the Future
Footnotes:
1. Wired. https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-workers-pandemic-risks-own-words/
2. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/10/21216172/amazon-coronavirus-protests-response-safety-jfk8-fired-covid-19
3. USA Today. https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/business/2020/03/31/coronavirus-workplace-conditions-spur-protests-whole-foods-amazon/5093570002/
4. Daily Dot. https://www.dailydot.com/debug/employee-monitoring-software-amazon-coronavirus/
5. In These Times. http://inthesetimes.com/working/entry/20934/whole-foods-amazon-ups-tracking-orwell-dystopia
6. The Verge. https://www.theverge.com/2020/5/14/21259474/amazon-warehouse-worker-death-indiana
7. 60 Minutes. https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-workforce-safety-60-minutes-2020-05-10/
8. Fortune. https://fortune.com/2020/04/14/coronavirus-whistleblowers-legal-protections-osha/
Fight for the Future works to protect your rights in the digital age.
