It is "the largest mass action of workers to date, as frustrations mount around the failure of the company to protect workers and public health in the face of the coronavirus epidemic", denounces the grouping of Athena associations in a press release published on Monday. More than 300 Amazon employees in the United States will go on strike on Tuesday to demand an improvement in working conditions facing covid-19 in warehouses. This movement was launched three days before an online strike by coders and engineers from the group.
130 warehouses with confirmed cases
The American online shopping giant has been accused since the start of the Covid-19 pandemic of not enough protecting its employees, but also of having dismissed workers in the United States who had led protest movements.
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"For weeks, workers at Amazon (...) have been sounding the alarm about the dangerous conditions in warehouses," the Athena organization underlines in this press release, referring to 130 warehouses where workers contracted the Covid-19, some of which "with more than 30 confirmed cases".
"Every day we have to make an impossible choice: go to an unsafe workplace or risk losing a salary check in the heart of a global recession," said platform employee Jaylen Camp. Amazon of Romulus, Michigan, cited in the release. "Rather than take real measures to protect our health, Amazon prefers to dodge, lie and fire people who speak up. We will not be intimidated. Our health and that of everyone is too important," he added. .
Distribution of masks
Two weeks ago, Amazon announced the distribution of millions of masks and the implementation of temperature controls on all its American and European sites. But according to the organization, the implementation of these measures "has been questioned on several occasions by workers in the field".
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Warehouses and logistics centers are in high demand due to containment measures designed to stop the spread of the virus. The needs are such that Amazon has undertaken to recruit 175,000 people in the United States.