| Friend, People inside and outside Amazon have been demanding more protections for workers. And after Amazon was cited for using unlawful worker practices -- including implementing production standards that cause injuries and delivery requirements that force drivers to urinate in bottles to keep up -- the behemoth could have changed those practices.(1,2) Instead, the megacorporation installed "ZenBooths," telephone booth–sized rooms in warehouses that are being called "despair closets."(3) Meanwhile, Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos just acquired MGM, a massive media company, which will expand their corporate footprint and put even more pressure on more workers.(4) Amazon is opening several new warehouses in California, and we need to protect the workers there. Courage California is going all in with LAANE (Los Angeles Alliance for a New Economy) to pass AB 701, a bill to protect frontline warehouse workers by providing them with stronger rights and protections. Will you donate to help fight Amazon? Yes, I'll donate to help stop Amazon's worker abuses. The ZenBooths include screens that play a few minutes of "wellbeing" practices or meditations that workers can use if they feel down or upset.(5) The booths are part of the company's "AmaZen" program, which is described as a "wellness service" by the company.(6) The corporation is trying to spin its refusal to fix its unhealthy workplace as "wellness." Amazon's relentless quotas, lack of breaks, and "mega-cycle" shifts that force employees to work from 1:30 am to 11:50 am are causing workers alarming rates of anxiety, depression, weight loss, insomnia, and migraines.(7) Worse, Amazon has announced a new program for recent low-income high school graduates to work in Los Angeles–area warehouses while attending community college -- funneling poor students into this same system.(8) That's why we must pass AB 701 and continue to fight for Amazon workers' rights. We’re working with unions and other local partners to pass AB 701 and make sure Amazon agrees to protect workers’ rights before the injuries are reported and before a new generation of workers grows up accepting exploitive workplace practices as the standard. Yours in the fight against corporate abuses, Irene, along with Angela, Annie, Caitlin, Deepthi, Jay, Lindsay, LisaMarie, Molly, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage team) Footnotes:  |
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