‘I’m scared to come to work.’ Amazon workers call out sick to protest COVID-19 safety
Hundreds of Amazon workers are planning to call out sick starting Tuesday to protest the company’s treatment of employees during the COVID-19 pandemic, media outlets reported.
More than 300 Amazon workers in at least 50 facilities across the U.S. will participate in the protest, NBC reported, citing United for Respect, a workers’ rights group. Employees will call out sick throughout the week, according to NBC.
“I’m calling out this week because I’m scared to come to work and can’t trust Amazon to keep me and my co-workers safe,” Jaylen Camp, an Amazon worker at a fulfillment center in Romulus, Michigan, told The Hill.
“We have to make an impossible choice every day: go to a workplace that’s not safe or risk losing a paycheck in the middle of a global recession. Rather than take real steps to protect our health, Amazon would rather stall, lie and fire the people who speak up. We will not be intimidated. Our health and everyone’s health is too important,” Camp told the outlet.
The workers are urging Amazon to “immediately close down” facilities with positive coronavirus cases. They’re also asking Amazon to notify employees at facilities with confirmed cases, regularly sanitize facilities, provide two weeks of paid sick leave, offer health insurance for all Amazon employees, provide hazard pay, eliminate quotas “that make hand-washing and sanitizing impossible,” and commit to not retaliate against anyone who speaks out against Amazon.
“Reports of employee participation in today’s event organized by labor unions are grossly exaggerated,” Rachael Lighty, an Amazon spokesperson, told McClatchy News. “Already more than 250,000 people have come to work today, even more than last week, to serve their communities. We couldn’t be more grateful and proud for their efforts during this time. The union organizers’ claims are also simply false — what’s true is that masks, temperature checks, hand sanitizer, increased time off, increased pay, and more are standard across our network because we care deeply about the health and safety of our employees. We encourage anyone to compare the health and safety measures Amazon has taken, and the speed of their implementation, during this crisis with other retailers.”
Amazon said the company has increased cleaning at its facilities and is conducting temperature checks for employees, according to a news release.
Workers in more than 130 warehouses have been infected with coronavirus, The Guardian reported, citing figures from United for Respect.
Several Amazon employees who have spoken out against the company and its warehouse conditions have been fired, McClatchy News reported.
This story was originally published April 21, 2020 at 9:54 AM with the headline "‘I’m scared to come to work.’ Amazon workers call out sick to protest COVID-19 safety."