Year-Long Senate Investigation Reveals
Harrowing Conditions in Amazon Warehouses
WASHINGTON, July 16,
2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Following a report on Amazon
Prime Day by the U.S. Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor
and Pensions (HELP), Teamsters are reiterating demands that
Congress pass the Warehouse Worker Protection Act (WWPA). The WWPA
is a bipartisan bill that holds corporations like Amazon
accountable for dangerous safety practices and abusive production
quotas in the warehousing industry.
"This report confirms what we've all known for a long time –
Amazon is abusing its workers to the point of physical harm just so
it can squeeze more money from its churn-and-burn, bloodthirsty
business model," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien. "Worker health and safety can't
wait – this legislation needs to make its way through both chambers
of Congress and be signed into law immediately."
O'Brien also addressed the retail behemoth in his speech to the
Republican National Convention last night.
"What's sickening is that Amazon has abandoned any national
allegiance," he said. "Amazon's sole focus is on lining its own
pockets. Remember: elites have no party. Elites have no nation.
Their loyalty is to the balance sheet and to the stock price at the
expense of the American citizen."
The report, commissioned and released by HELP Chairman Sen.
Bernie Sanders (I – Vt.), has led to
the company being forced to disclose its safety data publicly for
the first time. The committee found that during Prime Day 2019,
Amazon's injury rate spiked to 45 per 100 workers – nearly half of
its warehouse staff. It also revealed that the company has been
underreporting its injury rates.
"The company continues to create excessive demand and push
workers to extremes to meet that demand—often in ways that require
workers to operate far beyond what is reasonable or safe," the
report said. "This is not an acceptable set of practices from one
of the richest companies in the world. Amazon must address its
injury crisis and ensure that all workers are safe at their jobs,
especially during the most intense and demanding periods."
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto
Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information.
Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook
at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Kara Deniz, (202) 497-6610
kdeniz@teamster.org
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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters