Amazon Faces Senate Probe Over Warehouse Safety (cnbc.com) 34
An anonymous reader quotes a report from CNBC: Amazon's warehouse working conditions, which have come under increased scrutiny in recent years, are now at the heart of a congressional probe being led by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont. In a letter (PDF) to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy, Sanders, who chairs the Senate's Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP) Committee, said the e-retailer's "quest for profits at all costs" has caused warehouse employees to experience unsafe working environments without access to adequate medical attention.
"Amazon is well aware of these dangerous conditions, the life-altering consequences for workers injured on the job, and the steps the company could take to reduce the significant risks of injury," wrote Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democratic party. "Yet the company has made a calculated decision not to implement adequate worker protections because Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, and you, his successor as Chief Executive Officer, have created a corporate culture that treats workers as disposable."
Sanders called on Jassy to turn over more information related to Amazon's injury and turnover rates, as well as data on its on-site medical clinic, called AMCARE, dating back to 2019. He also asked Jassy to say whether Amazon has, internally or through a third party, examined "the connection between the pace of work of its warehouse workers and the prevalence or cost of injuries at its warehouses." Sanders said Jassy has until July 5 to respond to the inquiry. The HELP committee posted a form on its website seeking testimonials from current and former Amazon employees about their experiences at the company. An Amazon spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with Sanders' claims in the letter. "There will always be ways for our critics to splice data to suit their narrative, but the fact is, we've made progress and our numbers clearly show it," said the spokesperson.
"Amazon is well aware of these dangerous conditions, the life-altering consequences for workers injured on the job, and the steps the company could take to reduce the significant risks of injury," wrote Sanders, an independent who caucuses with the Democratic party. "Yet the company has made a calculated decision not to implement adequate worker protections because Jeff Bezos, Amazon's founder, and you, his successor as Chief Executive Officer, have created a corporate culture that treats workers as disposable."
Sanders called on Jassy to turn over more information related to Amazon's injury and turnover rates, as well as data on its on-site medical clinic, called AMCARE, dating back to 2019. He also asked Jassy to say whether Amazon has, internally or through a third party, examined "the connection between the pace of work of its warehouse workers and the prevalence or cost of injuries at its warehouses." Sanders said Jassy has until July 5 to respond to the inquiry. The HELP committee posted a form on its website seeking testimonials from current and former Amazon employees about their experiences at the company. An Amazon spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with Sanders' claims in the letter. "There will always be ways for our critics to splice data to suit their narrative, but the fact is, we've made progress and our numbers clearly show it," said the spokesperson.
they really need an union (Score:2)
they really need an union
US Sentors (Score:1, Troll)
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Slashdot commenter reacts to article, saying everything is bad and/or a conspiracy.
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I just haven't seen it.
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Not everything. There is prolly some good out there.
I just haven't seen it.
and with the attitude of everything is bad and/or a conspiracy, you never will.
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and with the attitude of everything is bad and/or a conspiracy, you never will
What else am I suppose to have when everything is bad and/or a conspiracy?
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More like Amazon being investigated for failing to uphold workplace safety standards. Or even basic building codes. https://news.wttw.com/2022/04/... [wttw.com]
But I guess building codes are a shakedown as well?
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Well if they didn't follow building codes, then they should go after the build/owner of the warehouses, which is NOT Amazon. They lease them.
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The support beams lifted right out of the ground instead of being anchored.
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More like Amazon being investigated for failing to uphold workplace safety standards
Don't we have an entire Federal agency tasked with that very thing, along with 50 State agencies (and probably some county and city agencies in more heavily populated areas) that enforce more local standards?
Note, I'm not suggesting that Amazon's safety practices are good (or even bad, for that matter, I'm not versed on the details of their operations) but Senate hearings will accomplish... what, exactly?
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Yeah and when those agencies fail they get investigated. Had they done their job the building wouldn’t have gotten signed off as having the proper tornado shelters and anchoring.
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How much do you think it would take Amazon to buy off Bernie Sanders? It would have to be worth more than the pleasure he'd derive from dancing on their freshly filled grave.
Re:US Sentors (Score:4, Insightful)
How much do you think it would take Amazon to buy off Bernie Sanders? It would have to be worth more than the pleasure he'd derive from dancing on their freshly filled grave.
How to Buy Bernie Sanders, For Corporate Entities Large Enough to Do So: A Primer
Step 1: Put a majority of your lobbying money toward supporting universal single-payer healthcare, rather than shielding your corporate identity from prosecution for wrong-doing.
Step 2: Put a minority of your lobbying money toward supporting the labor pool you have up to this point been eager to exploit beyond all reason.
Step 3: During the transition to universal single-payer health, provide health insurance at reduced or fully compensated rates to employees, even the ones you try to swap out often enough to not have to ever provide benefits.
Step 4: Stop trying to swap low-rung employees around often enough you don't have to provide benefits.
People think Bernie's a complicated guy just because he's got hard lines that he tries his best not to cross. But the easiest way to "buy" him is to support his publicly stated policies. He'll either climb aboard because he's so consistent with his message, or he'll climb aboard because he thinks you finally got the message, or he'll be proven to be a complete hypocrite the same as the rest of the long-termers in Washington. Either way? People can finally stop whining about liberal grandpa.
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Thanks for the laugh.
Unless....you actually believe Senator Sellout?
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Thanks for the laugh.
Unless....you actually believe Senator Sellout?
On the scale of sellout senators, Bernie barely blips the needle compared to the rest of the lot. Not to say he's a paragon of virtue, but I could almost see myself having a touch of respect for him. Which is better than most.
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Step 3: During the transition to universal single-payer health,
But where will we send the patients when Canada is already sending theirs to the USA [www.cbc.ca] for treatment?
Amazon failed to automate (Score:2)
They still use human workers for picking and sorting items. They should have forced all suppliers to use robot-friendly standardized boxes. Instead most of their items are in retail packaging that require a human to deal with the picking.
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As soon as it is more cost effective, Amazon will switch to the metal ones.
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Doesn't even have to be completely standardized, just have minimum top dimensions per weight for suction cups to grab them. Computers can deal with packing problems just fine.
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Essentially this is the issue and it makes absolutely no sense to me. Even just doing sets of ~5 different classes of packaging that could be properly automated would have been a huge improvement. Charge fulfillment customers more that don't have automation-friendly packaging. Or, actually develop better manipulators to improve what you can automate.
It seems like they decided being a big employer was important for policy reasons.
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I think they are afraid of telling their suppliers what to do, even gradually because there will be an initial cost and inconvenience. I can't think of what else it might be.
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There is a point though where that has significant diminishing returns. If a delivery or logistics center could double volume in the same footprint and less staff then once unionization starts being whispered around you would consolidate. It might not be an everyday priority, but it would be something you would want to have the flexibility to deploy quickly and seamlessly. They seem to have WAAAAY to many facilities today if you watch how merchandise moves around for fulfillment.
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Workers are a company's most valuable asset. But yeah, why not treat them like dumb machines & try to work t
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In other countries, companies cooperate with unions because they see a net benefit from getting input & insights from their workers that they'd otherwise be blind to.
There's none of that here. Amazon is constantly studying ways to improve efficiency, which is the only thing they care about. The job is all but mindless and hasn't really changed since the dawn of warehouses, except that now we use cardboard boxes, sorting algorithms, and autogenerated pick lists — but all of that stuff is transparent to workers, their job is essentially the same whether a human or a computer tells them what to do.
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You say it hasn't changed & then subsequently list 3 ways in which it's changed.
The job of warehouse monkey hasn't fundamentally changed, you're still scurrying around fetching shit and returning it to containers somewhere for not enough money in poor conditions. Amazon is just way over towards a couple of extremes.
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Progress (Score:4, Informative)
An Amazon spokesperson said the company strongly disagrees with Sanders' claims in the letter. "There will always be ways for our critics to splice data to suit their narrative, but the fact is, we've made progress and our numbers clearly show it," said the spokesperson.,
Going from shit x 100 to shit x 99 is progress, but not meaningful.
Robots have it easy (Score:4, Interesting)
Humans in warehouses have to increasingly do all the complex manipulation robots suck at, at a stationary station now. Little puts the R in RSI more than that kind of Amazon work. You could say they are ahead of Walmart in injury rate, but maybe Walmart is just behind Amazon in automation and will catch up eventually.
The problem is determining what is a fair injury rate and long term health deterioration for labor. Most physical jobs are slowly destroying you regardless.
The best way to tip the scales for government is increasing workers compensation amount and duration. More effective than more OSHA red tape.
Amazon Warehouses will NEVER be good enough... (Score:4, Insightful)
First off: If you don't like working at an Amazon warehouse, get a new job. There is plenty of other warehouse jobs out there.
Second: The reason people don't leave the Amazon warehouses, is they don't get the pay and benefits they would get from other companies.
Third: Seriously, we're siting Barrie Sanders in a congressional probe into Amazon. The man who has sucked at the tit of government his whole life, says he's for the people, and is a multimillionaire. Ya, government will really solve this. Feel the Bern...
I'm so tired of people complaining about XYZ. For those people who work at Amazon, it can be challenging, but you get compensated well for it. For the other people who say it's too hard, hurts you, etc, my 74 year old mother in law works at one. She started loading trucks, and now does problem solve. Does the article mention how if they don't need her for her shift, they give her the option of going taking time off without pay, OR sit in a break room and get paid? Many jobs do that for you if you're getting payed by the hour? Medical services helped her find a doctor who took her plan, AND was accepting patients, WITH her insurance, in a couple of hours. She had tried to use the insurance company for 2 days. All they did was give a list of doctors who TAKE the insurance, none of them not one was taking patients.
There is many service perks at Amazon. It is a good place to work. If a 74 year old can work there (going on 5 years) then shut the heck up about some mid 20's person saying it has issues with work place conditions.
And ya, start a union in Amazon, and they will find a way to automate everything. The cost to automate will be cheaper then working with a union. I know, I'm stuck in one and the limits of what I can do at the job is staggering. (IT work, public sector, no choice had to join the union)
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People do leave Amazon warehouses. At an astounding rate, far beyond other similar employers. Also, their injury rates exceed other similar employers as well. (https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/04/insider/amazon-workers-investigation.html [nytimes.com] paywalled)
Yep, Bernie Sanders through retirement savings, working as a Senator and with his wife, have a total amount of assets around 2.5 to 3 million (including his house). Which is 9 million below the average Senator. (https://ballotpedia.org/Net_worth_of_United_States_