Peter Endig | AFP | Getty Pictures
Amazon’s warehouse working situations, which personal come under increased scrutiny in most up-to-date years, are now at the coronary heart of a congressional probe being led by Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont.
In a letter 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 prices” has caused warehouse workers to ride unsafe working environments with out bring collectively entry to to ample clinical consideration.
“Amazon is neatly responsive to these bad situations, the lifestyles-altering consequences for workers injured on the job, and the steps the firm also can grab to minimize the lots of risks of afflict,” wrote Sanders, an self reliant who caucuses with the Democratic event. “Yet the firm has made a calculated option now not to implement ample worker protections because Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s founder, and likewise you, his successor as Chief Executive Officer, personal created an organization culture that treats workers as disposable.”
Steve Kelly, an Amazon spokesperson, told CNBC in a declare that the firm strongly disagrees with Sanders’ claims within the letter. Individually, the firm said Sanders has been invited to tour one in every of Amazon’s warehouses.
Sanders called on Jassy to notify over more info linked to Amazon’s afflict and turnover rates, besides to data on its on-location clinical sanatorium, called AMCARE, dating back to 2019. He also asked Jassy to dispute whether Amazon has, internally or through a third event, examined “the connection between the tempo of labor of its warehouse workers and the prevalence or value of accidents at its warehouses.”
Sanders said Jassy has till July 5 to reply to the inquiry. The HELP committee posted a invent on its web location seeking testimonials from most up-to-date and old Amazon workers about their experiences at the firm.
Amazon faces ongoing federal probes into its security document previous the Senate’s actions. The Occupational Security and Health Administration and the U.S. Attorney’s Office are investigating situations at plenty of warehouses, while the U.S. Department of Justice shall be examining whether Amazon underreports accidents.
Amazon says it has made development on reducing accidents all over its U.S. operations and continues to make investments in security initiatives, initiatives and functions. It has also appealed a string of citations issued by OSHA in most up-to-date months around security hazards and violations.
Underneath Sanders’ management, the HELP committee has taken aim at other companies’ place of job records. Ancient Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz testified in front of the committee in March after Sanders all over again and all over again criticized the espresso chain’s dealing with of workers’ unionization efforts. Sanders has also been a frequent critic of Amazon’s labor practices, web hosting a Senate Budget Committee hearing in Could possibly possibly also merely of ultimate twelve months and sharp Bezos to discuss the firm’s draw to unions.
WATCH: Why OSHA is investigating Amazon for ‘failing to abet workers accumulate’
