New York (AFP)

Employees of the American distribution platforms Amazon and Instacart went on strike Monday, in full containment in New York and San Francisco, accusing their employers of not protecting them enough against the new coronavirus.

Several dozen workers at Amazon's New York warehouse on Staten Island, south of Manhattan, stopped work Monday noon.

They gathered in front of the Amazon warehouse, mask or scarf in front of their mouths for some, scattered in the parking lot, distant from each other, social distancing forces.

Under a gray sky, they held up their signs: "Our health is just essential", "Treat your employees like your customers".

Or again: "It is difficult to close a business for 3/4 weeks. But it is even more difficult to close forever the coffin of someone we love !!! STAY AT HOME".

While the region, which has become the epicenter of the epidemic in the United States, is called for containment, these workers criticize the American giant for not taking the necessary measures to protect them.

"People tested positive work in this building and transmit (the virus) to hundreds of others," said a Twitter account, dubbed @Shut_downAmazon, and just created.

"These accusations are simply unfounded," responded Amazon in a statement sent to AFP.

"We have taken extreme measures to ensure the safety of people, by carrying out a deep cleaning three times more often than usual, by purchasing the available safety equipment and by modifying the procedures in order to guarantee the safety distances", ensures the group.

Employees of the high-end chain of stores Whole Foods, which belongs to Amazon, called a strike Tuesday, also demanding increased security measures, as well as higher compensation.

For their part, buyer-deliverers of the Instacart platform, which allows them to order their races online, also stopped work on Monday. They are asking for more security and better financial conditions.

They will stop working until "all (their) requests (are) met," a spokeswoman for the group "Gig Workers Collective" told AFP.

"It's not just about us, we also want to protect our customers. Workers are furious that Instacart is not even doing the bare minimum during this deadly pandemic," she added.

The Covid-19 hit nearly 157,000 people in the United States on Monday and left more than 2,880 dead, according to Johns Hopkins University, the count of which refers.

© 2020 AFP