Amazon and labor
Unionization tracking
Amazon uses a heat map to track which Whole Foods stores are at risk of unionization as of April 2020. It's not a literal heat map, but one that maps many values like:
- Distance to the closest union
- Charges filed with the NLRB
- Organizing "incidents"
- Percentage of families in the zip code that fall below the poverty line
- Local unemployment rate
- Diversity index (racial and ethnic diversity)
- Lower diversity correlates with a higher risk of unionization
- Total store sales
- Higher sales correlate with a higher risk of unionization
It tracks this because it wants to suppress worker organization.
Anti-labor tactics
It has a long history of suppressing organizing workers. Recently, a warehouse worker named Chris Smalls helped to organize a tiny strike (a one-day walkout) on March 30, 2020. It was in protest of Amazon forcing workers to work in close quarters in a facility in which at least 10 employees had been infected (Amazon confirmed one case).
Derrick Palmer said, “The goal is to get that building shut down, and they will shut it down, because no packages, nothing gets out the building without associates,” says Derrick Palmer, who has worked at the facility, JFK8, for four and a half years. “This is a pandemic. People are literally losing their lives because of this virus. And [Amazon is] not taking this seriously. They’re not giving us our respect that we demand. We’re not going to ask for it. We’re going to demand it, because at the end of the day, we’re the heart and soul of that building, not the managers. They’re back in the office. We’re in the front lines working.”
Contrast this with Amazon's response nearly a month earlier to a white collar worker in a Seattle office ("Brazil") getting infected with the coronavirus. They told white collar workers to stay home if they experience symptoms and said in their message that “Your health is our top priority and we are continuing with enhanced deep cleaning and sanitization in the office.”
Amazon fired Smalls, then organized a smear campaign against him. They decided that because they didn't think he was articulate, they could get the upper hand by making the entire issue about Small instead of them forcing workers to work under extremely dangerous conditions that they would never work in themselves. They had two senior vice presidents attack him on Twitter.
They then tried to think of counter PR moves. For example:
Surveillance and conditions
Back to Amazon's surveillance and tracking of labor, in 2019, an Amazon warehouse worker named Billy Foister went to the companies health center (called "AmCare") and reported headaches and chest pains. He was given two beverages to drink and sent back to work.
A couple of weeks later, he put a product in the wrong bin. Within two minutes, management saw it on camera and came out to talk to him about it.
A couple of days later, he had a heart attack. He fell and was on the floor for 20 minutes without any help. A worker from a nearby department saw him and called for help.
After watching essentially a coworker die, workers were ordered back to work.
Amazon PR, however, were quick to point out that the death did not technically happen on their grounds. Here's what they said:
"The passing of the employee did not occur at the facility. The employee experienced a personal medical issue (heart attack) and lost consciousness. Several trained team members quickly responded and administered CPR and AED until local emergency responders arrived, within minutes, and took over. The employee was then transported to a local hospital for further treatment, where he was later pronounced deceased."
Let's remember that 20 minutes is technically "minutes".
This is one incident, but with pressure on labor this high and negligence of safety and basic decency by management also so high, it is no surprise that the serious injury rate at Amazon warehouses is more than double the industry average.
Phillip Lee Terry and Amazon HQ jockeying
In September of 2017, Phillip Lee Terry was crushed by a forklift in an Amazon warehouse in Indiana. Indiana OSHA's investigation resulted in a tiny $28K fine and four citations. Amazon appealed it, blaming the death on the victim.
At the time, Gov. Eric Holcomb was jockeying to get Amazon to build their second headquarters in Indiana. Indiana OSHA accepted Amazon's defense and dropped the citations and fine.
Federal OSHA did their own investigation and found that Indiana OSHA were wrong to drop three of the four citations.
After he was crushed by the forklift, Terry's body was not discovered for two hours.
Indiana OSHA director Julie Alexander said:
- 'In the recording, Alexander also suggested that Amazon could partner with her agency as a “leader in safety” and said, “We sometimes like to consider grouping citations to lower the penalty amounts.” After the call, she told Stallone, “I hope you don’t take it personally if we have to manipulate your citations.”'
- "Alexander also speculated out loud after the call that the deceased worker “was probably on drugs or something.” A coroner’s report showed he was not."
Update, 2020-05-25
Coronavirus policies
In an Amazon warehouse in Hazelton, PA, there were more than 40 employees confirmed to have the coronavirus, confirmed by Amazon on April 10.
By mid-April, there were 60 cases. Amazon stopped announcing the number of cases to the workers and instead started just saying "additional confirmed cases" in message to employees.
They have not changed automated performance monitoring, so workers still have to move the same number of boxes, even as they are being told to socially distance and wash their hands regularly.
In Southern California, a worker named Heather Harr, who has a daughter with a weakened immune system, asked for a mask, gloves, and disinfectant wipes but was told there were none.
links:
name: Amazon is reportedly using a heat map to track stores at risk of unionization
url: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/20/21228324/amazon-whole-foods-unionization-heat-map-union
- name: Amazon executives privately insulted a warehouse worker, then attacked him on Twitter url: https://www.theverge.com/2020/4/2/21206108/amazon-chris-smalls-warehouse-strike-nyc-jay-carney-bernie-sanders-coronavirus-safety
- name: Amazon warehouse workers walk out in rising tide of COVID-19 protests url: https://www.theverge.com/2020/3/30/21199942/amazon-warehouse-coronavirus-covid-new-york-protest-walkout
- name: Amazon's "Brazil" office url: https://foursquare.com/v/amazon--brazil/55f1cbf7498e537abaf8daf0/photos
- name: Leaked Amazon Memo Details Plan to Smear Fired Warehouse Organizer: ‘He’s Not Smart or Articulate’ url: https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/5dm8bx/leaked-amazon-memo-details-plan-to-smear-fired-warehouse-organizer-hes-not-smart-or-articulate
- url: https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/17/amazon-warehouse-worker-deaths name: 'Go back to work': outcry over deaths on Amazon's warehouse floor
- url: https://www.revealnews.org/article/that-should-not-be-happening-amazon-warehouses-serious-injury-rates-more-than-double-industry-average/ name: ‘That should not be happening’ – Amazon warehouses’ serious injury rates more than double industry average
- name: VP Tim Bray quits Amazon in response to Amazon firing protesting workers (Discovered after the podcast was recorded) url: https://www.tbray.org/ongoing/When/202x/2020/04/29/Leaving-Amazon
- url: https://www.revealnews.org/article/inside-one-of-amazons-hardest-hit-warehouses-why-arent-we-closing-the-building/ name: Inside one of Amazon’s hardest-hit warehouses
#business #amazon #labor #surveillance