| Dear, Amazon is going on a hiring spree in Northern California, bringing on nearly 4,000 workers to staff its new warehouse.(1) But once those workers are hired, they’re likely going to be subjected to unsafe working conditions. 20,000 Amazon workers have caught coronavirus, as the pandemic rages on.(2) Meanwhile, CEO Jeff Bezos has just crossed a record $200 billion net worth, making more every 30 seconds than most of his warehouse workers make in an entire year.(3) Attorney General Xaver Becerra has launched an investigation into Amazon’s treatment of California’s workers, and we need to make sure he has the political will to hold the mega corporation and its CEO to account. Will you sign our petition calling on AG Becerra to stand up for Amazon workers’rights? During the pandemic, a typical Los Angeles Amazon delivery driver has been expected to drop off more than 300 packages a day -- up from 180 -- resulting in 12-13 hour days with no breaks.(4) Amazon workers in warehouses are expected to share PPE and aren’t given the space to socially distance while boxing up millions of products a day.(5) But Amazon’s worker abuses did not start with the pandemic by any means. The company’s relentless drive to squeeze every dollar’s profit out of its staff has led to injury and even death. There are reports of severely limited bathroom breaks, workers forced to come in even when ill, and lunch and dinner breaks withheld in order to meet quotas.(6) When the pandemic broke out, Amazon’s demand shot up 40%, and things only got worse. Workers were boxing up masks and hand sanitizer but not provided any for their own safety. Workers were forced to quarantine without pay. And when workers tried to stand up for their rights to a safe work environment, they were fired.(7) Bezos is now America's richest person by a wide margin, but instead of using his newfound billions to hire more workers and provide a safe workplace, he has launched a propaganda campaign touting how progressive Amazon is.(8,9) Worse, Amazon hired its own counter-intelligence team of analysts to root out and fight back against labor organizing efforts and attempts by groups -- like Courage California -- that are trying to call out the corporation's exploitive practices.(10) Amazon has a ton of political power, and we need to let AG Becerra know we need him to hold the giant company accountable to workers’ rights. Will you sign our petition? Click here to demand that Amazon provide a safe working environment for its employees! Yours in the fight for workers' rights, Irene, along with Angela, Annie, Brian, Caitlin, Deepthi, Gabby, Jay, Lindsay, Molly, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage team) Footnotes:  |
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