Hi,

In September, Billy Foister had a heart attack at work and collapsed. In
any other workplace, he would have gotten immediate medical attention. But
Billy Foister worked at an Amazon warehouse, and instead he laid on the
floor for 20 minutes and eventually died.^1

His co-workers were told to get back to work immediately.

That this could happen at all is terrifying, but what’s even more
insidious is why: because Amazon places more importance on automated
productivity quotas than the value of human life.

[ [link removed] ]Tell Amazon to stop abusing workers with automated productivity quotas.

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition

For consumers, Amazon is pretty convenient, but that click-and-ship ease
comes at a steep cost. The National Council for Occupational Safety and
Health named Amazon warehouses as one of the most dangerous jobs in the
country^2 for the second year in a row.

Why? Because Amazon’s warehouse are staffed by people, but run and managed
by algorithms that demand faster and faster packing and shipping, and
punish workers for taking breaks and using the restroom. For Amazon, human
life is not as important as profit and speed.

Managing warehouses by predictive modeling isn’t just cold and impersonal,
it’s deadly. Under this system, Amazon warehouse workers have to push
themselves to the brink at all times, just to keep their jobs. Sometimes
this causes workers like Billy Foister to go into cardiac arrest while on
the job. In other reports, workers who can’t meet the data driven demands
have attempted suicide.^3

No amount of next-day or same-day shipping is worth the human cost that
Amazon demands of their warehouse workers. That’s why, as consumers, our
voices are particularly important. We can push back against Amazon, just
like tech workers and warehouse workers all across the country are doing,
and demand more humane working conditioning.

[ [link removed] ]Tell Amazon: Stop abusing workers with automated productivity quotas.

[ [link removed] ]Sign the petition

Thanks for taking action,

Tihi and the team at Demand Progress

 

[ [link removed] ]DONATE

 

Sources:
1. Guardian, “'Go back to work': outcry over deaths on Amazon's warehouse
floor,” [ [link removed] ]October 17, 2019.
2. Futurism, “After Deaths, Amazon Lands on List of Most Dangerous
Employers,” [ [link removed] ]October 18, 2019.
3. National Council of Occupational Safety and Health, “The Dirty Dozen
2019: Employers Who Put Workers and Communities at Risk,” [ [link removed] ]April, 2019.
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