Amazon workers plan ‘mass call out’ over COVID-19 infections
Amazon warehouse workers will stage a ‘mass call out’ this week to protest what they claim to be the company’s failure to adequately protect them from the spread of COVID-19.
More than 300 employees who work across at least 50 facilities signed up to participate in the protest initiated by United for Respect, a worker rights group.
The group said that starting on Tuesday workers will call out ‘en masse across the country’ until the end of this week.
The protest will be spread out across several days since workers are scheduled to report to their warehouses at different times and on different days.
DailyMail.com has reached out to Amazon for comment.
An Amazon warehouse is seen above in Staten Island, New York, in this March 31 file photo
Amazon employees staged a protest on March 30 after walking out on the job in the Staten Island warehouse
‘Amazon’s response to the Coronavirus outbreak has unnecessarily put the lives of Amazon employees at increased risk and exposure,’ the petition by United for Respect reads.
‘There are now over 130 warehouses where employees have contracted COVID-19 (Coronavirus) including some warehouses with over 30 confirmed cases because of Amazon’s inaction. Nationwide, we have been and will continue to call out sick until Amazon makes the necessary changes to put our health and safety first.’
Workers are demanding hazard pay, immediate notification of a COVID-19 diagnosis among staff members, regular deep cleaning and sanitation, and other protective measures.
The planned protest comes as a new report on working conditions at Amazon reveals there have been COVID-19 cases at more than half of the company’s warehouses in the US and predicts the disease will spread exponentially among workers in the coming weeks.
The report was prepared by the workers rights groups Athena Coalition and Hedge Clippers, using data from government health agencies and a range of local and national news sources.
As of April 14th, the report claims, ‘nearly 75’ of Amazon’s 110 US warehouse facilities have had at least one worker test positive for COVID-19, and without intervention the groups predict case numbers among Amazon workers will ‘exponentially’ increase.
‘Amazon is responsible for not becoming a vector for the coronavirus,’ the report says.
‘The company must protect the health and safety of more than 250,000 people across 110 US warehouses, sub-contracted delivery service partners, and 75,000 Flex drivers, for the sake of workers, their loved ones and Amazon customers.’
The groups argue that Amazon’s inadequate safety policies has placed a disproportionate burden on people of color, who make up 58 percent of the company’s warehouse workers.
A new report from workers rights groups warns that COVID-19 infections could grow exponentially in Amazon’s US warehouses without urgent intervention
A major breakout at Amazon warehouse facilities could have a devastating impact not just on the company’s employees and contractors, but all of Amazon’s customer base which includes more than 112 million Amazon Prime subscribers in the US.
Amazon has disputed the report’s findings, describing Athena Coalition and Hedge Clippers as ‘self-interested critics’ who are funded by unions and Amazon’s competitors.
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‘Nothing is more important than the safety of our teams,’ Amazon spokesperson Kristen Kish told Vice.
‘Since the early days of this situation, we have worked closely with health authorities to proactively respond, ensuring we continue to serve communities while taking care of our associates and teams.’
‘And, we have implemented more than 150 significant process changes to support our teams including increasing rates of pay, adjusting time off and providing temperature checks, masks, gloves and other safety measures at our sites.’
The Athena Coalition is a new collaborative project between more than 30 workers right groups that is partially backed by $15million in seed funding from George Soros’s Open Society Foundations.
Hedge Clippers is an open structure advocacy group dedicated to raising awareness on the exploitative effects of hedge funds on education, healthcare and workers rights.
Amazon recently posted a blog highlighting a number of changes it’s made at its warehouses, including daily temperature checks and regular face mask distribution for warehouse workers.
The company has also increased the pay rate for US employees by $2 an hour, doubled overtime pay, and established a $25 million relief fund for partners like contract delivery drivers.
Amazon is also working to develop its own in-house testing facilities to help identify and isolate infected workers.
According to the Athena and Hedge Clippers report, these are piecemeal measures that don’t adequately address the concerns of many of the company’s workers.
Amazon disputes many of the claims in the report, saying it was funded by ‘self-interested’ pro-union groups, and points to the fact that it has raised wages $2 an hour for warehouse workers as well as offered face masks and daily temperature checks as evidence it’s supporting workers
A group of current and former workers have called for Cyberark Exam dumps a ‘virtual walkout’ to protest the company’s COVID-19 policies on April 24
The groups call for Amazon to pay for COVID-19 testing and treatment, both for full-time employees and contractors, and offer full pay for all workers who self-quarantine for pre-existing health conditions or suspect a family member or housemate may be sick.
They also say the company should give workers hazard pay equal to time and a half the hourly wage, not just a $2 an hour increase, and also suspend its productivity quotas for employees, which leave no time for proper protective sanitation.
The group says Amazon should close all its warehouses for two weeks and perform a comprehensive disinfecting deep clean.
The report arrives as another group of Amazon workers have announced plans to organize a one-day ‘virtual workout’ to protest the company’s COVID-19 worker safety policies.
‘We’re asking tech workers to virtually walk out on Friday (April 24),’ organizer Maren Costa said.
A former Amazon employee, Costa was fired along with Emily Cunningham after criticizing the company’s policies.
‘We want to tell Amazon that we are sick of all this – sick of the firings, sick of the silencing, sick of pollution, sick of racism, and sick of the climate crisis.’