Amazon Warehouse Workers In New York Walk Off The Job; Instacart And Whole Foods Employees To Follow

[appalachiablue]

Source: ABC News

A group of workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York City walked off the job and went on strike Monday afternoon, demanding the company shut down and thoroughly clean the sprawling facility after they say multiple employees there have tested positive for the novel coronavirus.

Fear of the rapidly spreading virus, which has killed nearly 800 people in New York City, has also prompted threatened work stoppages at the online grocery shopping and delivery service Instacart and a planned "sickout" by workers at Whole Foods, a subsidiary of Amazon.

“People are afraid to work. People are there working and they’re putting their lives at risk because there are a number of (coronavirus) cases that they are not aware of," Chris Smalls, a management assistant at the Amazon fulfillment center in New York's Staten Island borough who is organizing the walkout, told ABC News.

Smalls said the company is not being honest with employees about the number of colleagues who have tested positive for the virus in recent days and that management has only confirmed that one worker at the warehouse has come down with the virus. - More + Video...


Read more: https://abcnews.go.com/Business/people-afraid-amazon-warehouse-workers-york-walk-off/story?id=69871849

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"That’s a bold face lie because I sent home the third case directly," Smalls said, adding that he knows of a total of seven cases at the facility that employs more than 4,000 people.

He also said the company placed him on quarantine on Saturday because he came in close contact with a worker who tested positive.

He said he sent the infected worker home on Tuesday when she was showing symptoms of illness. He said the worker was tested on Wednesday but was allowed to return to work until her test results came back positive on Thursday.

“She already had time to spread it. Her friend caught it. Her friend was the third case," Smalls said. "She tested positive and she’s a supervisor in the pack department and the pack department is right before the items go out door to the customers. It’s dangerous."




- Amazon workers protesting outside a warehouse facility in Staten Island, NY, March 30, 2020.

[Dennis Donovan]

1. Good! Bezos needs to protect his workers

They're going to be integral to our survival, at least in the short term.

[ananda]

11. I know.

Thank God I can at least order food from HEB
at least for the moment.

[flibbitygiblets]

2. "right before the items go out door to the customers"

Two people confirmed to have COVID-19 worked in the pack department, meaning, they pack the boxes.

Meaning, we should all be disinfecting any incoming packages. Using gloves and/or washing hands after handling the plastic packaging too.

[ProfessorGAC]

22. Mail Too

We're doing everything coming in the house.

[hangaleft]

25. What I do with deliveries

I quarantine everything I receive — mail and parcels — for a minimum of three days, usually longer. I bring the stuff in, put it in an isolated spot in the house, and wash my hands thoroughly. I don’t touch it or go near it for at least three days.

[Brainfodder]

3. Jeff should be paying them $100/hr out of his own pocket, fucker is what 4M an hour?

If he did the RIGHT thing, he'd not be so rich, so.... there is that history.

Don't be fools, billionaires are all greedy scum, that's what it takes to get there or inheriting it from greedy scum.

[marybourg]

6. What good is money if you're dead?

They should be supplied with whatever PPE is indicated by epidemiological experts and should be given time and space to keep the premises and the products disinfected.

[Brainfodder]

7. Yup, this thing was handled by assholes with filters on how to make $ off it.

.....and held up the start of what should have been a mass stay at home effort 6 weeks or so sooner?

Paying with lives, just gross.

[McKim]

4. Good!!!! It's Damn About Time!

Good, it’s damn about time! The people who keep this country running in a crisis and in normal times need to be honored with decent wages, benefits, health care and job security. This activism and new thinking about respect for Labor can set a new tone in our future. Duers are home now with plenty of time to think about how to frame these big issues for the popular mind. This is our chance to shape another world. “Another World is Possible!” As they say at the World Social Forum!

[Demonaut]

5. anything that arrives it my house gets a shower of hydrogen peroxide and lays in that bag for a day

or two

[IcyPeas]

8. they are essential employees

and they should be treated as such and given more money and all the safety gear they need.

I don't blame them one bit.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

9. So much for that Amazon order I was about to place.....

for a coffee pot. Because I despise Amazon I normally am willing to pay a few buck more and order direct, plus I get better warranty service. In this case, the "few bucks more" was considerable (around 20%).

I will instead order directly from the manufacturer and send Amazon a message in the only way to which they listen - when their revenue is impacted.

This is the cultural price our society pays from corporations becoming far larger than they should.

[Mc Mike]

10. They're in the right. The bosses shouldn't kill off the workers who are part of the US's critical

infrastructure.

Getting all your workers killed is bad for the dow.

[mountain grammy]

12. Testing, testing, testing..

no one should go to work without being tested.. The lack of testing is the worst.. Fuck you Donald Trump!

[still_one]

26. +++

[Grasswire2]

13. damn I finally just got an instacart delivery window for midnight Saturday night

....and the money is already gone from my account.

[Midnight Writer]

14. Time for Unions. Organize workers and refuse to buy products from non-Union businesses.

The American oligarchs don't give a good goddamn about the workers or the society they live in, even in matters of life and death.

[Crowman2009]

18. +1

[IronLionZion]

15. Profit over people

these companies have seen massive increase in business from the stay at home crowd and should do more to protect their workers. It seems doable. They can put better safety processes in place without losing much business since they have surging high demand. This is a pure profit play.

The shitty response to this would be to fire everyone who strikes and hire all new workers since layoffs have been happening everywhere.

[iluvtennis]

16. I support the workers. They shouldn't have to work in environment where they could be

subjected to coronavirus.

Bezos/company should have the building thoroughly disinfected and then test each worker. Any with CV need to start the 14 day quarantine before returning to work.

BTW, Amazon is nearly a 1Trillion dollar company...this is the least they can do for the workers on whose labor they make their money.

[crickets]

17. +1

[Sugar Smack]

19. THIS is the America I know & love.

Good on all of them.

[TheFourthMind]

20. The Power has left the building. No People. No Amazon. n/t

[tavernier]

21. But but... can I get my donkey hair eyelashes before they leave?

Really need them to look like Ivanka.

[Polybius]

27. This

My brother just ordered a new drill and pressure washer, something he already has older models of. When I questioned him, he said he was bored, and it's either this or go out to Home Depot (they are open and considered essential).

[StocktonNative]

23. You cant blame them

Humping to get product out the door for a few dollars more with other people who could also be virus carrying workers. Then if they get no sick time if they happen to show signs of symptoms.

Disaster in the making unless they stagger shifts every two weeks.

[EndlessWire]

24. I can't blame them

but I sure as shit need them.

Would anybody know why my order from Amazon came in a clearly marked Walmart cardboard carton? Just curious about it...

[2naSalit]

28. Just goes to show

that the "haves" see us as disposable.