Thread by @athenaforall

BREAKING: We demand Congress hold a hearing on @Amazon’s safety crisis.

3 Amazon workers in NJ died on the job in 3 weeks.

The 1st worker, Rafael, died in the Prime Day rush–when consumers shop, and workers fulfill orders til they drop

🧵 #AmazonHurts
forbes.com/sites/richardn…

We're calling on @SenSchumer @SpeakerPelosi @PattyMurray @SenatorBurr @BobbyScott @virginiafoxx to use your oversight responsibility and respond to the tragic deaths of NJ Amazon workers and the 34,000 serious injuries last year alone.

2/x #AmazonHurts

athenaforall.medium.com/letter-to-cong…

We urge your committees to exercise oversight responsibility by convening a public emergency congressional hearing, asking questions of the individuals responsible for the dangerous labor practices that are causing these injuries and deaths, including Amazon CEO @ajassy.

3/x

Despite @JeffBezos's public commitment to make @Amazon “Earth’s Safest Place to Work”, injuries among Amazon workers have increased year over year:

By 20% from 2020 to 2021 across the country.

4/x #AmazonHurts

thesoc.org/what-we-do/the…

And acutely in states like in New Jersey, where Amazon injury rates at the company’s fulfillment centers increased by over 54% from 2020 to 2021.

5/x #AmazonHurts

maketheroad.app.box.com/s/eegxb56p228b…

Year after year, @Amazon leads in workplace injuries. A 2019 report found that workers at Amazon suffered serious injuries at rates 5 times the national average for all private industries.

6/x #AmazonHurts

nelp.org/publication/pa…

In 2020, an investigation in Minnesota found that no industry in Minnesota had a higher average injury rate than an @Amazon fulfillment center in Shakopee.

7/x #AmazonHurts

nelp.org/publication/in…

This is all the more concerning because as the second largest private employer in the country, @Amazon and its labor practices have an outsized impact on our economy, and in the warehousing industry in particular.

8/x #AmazonHurts

A report from @TheSOC found that while Amazon employed 1/3rd of the country’s warehouse workers in 2021, the company was responsible for nearly half (49%) of ALL injuries across the entire warehouse industry.

9/x #AmazonHurts

https://twitter.com/WebMD/status/1514687440342114305

In fact, the serious injury rate at @Amazon warehouses in 2021 was more than twice as high as the rate at non-Amazon warehouses across the country.

10/x #AmazonHurts

thesoc.org/what-we-do/the…

Workers at Amazon have long known what regulators and legislators are realizing about the cause of these injuries and deaths: they are a direct result of Amazon’s unsafe pace of work and anti-union stance.

11/x #AmazonHurts

Regulators in Washington state (@lniwa) found a “direct connection” between injuries at warehouses and Amazon’s insistence that workers “maintain a very high pace of work.”

12/x #AmazonHurts

revealnews.org/article/amazon…

Public health experts have also found that Amazon’s productivity quotas and constant surveillance exerts a dangerous physical and mental toll on its workers.

13/x #AmazonHurts

humanimpact.org/wp-content/upl…

Additionally, concerns about high temps inside of @Amazon facilities have been raised by workers, not just in connection to the passing of Rafael Reynaldo Mota, but across the country from California to Tennessee to Washington.

14/x #AmazonHurts

thedailybeast.com/amazon-employe…

California's @ieamazonworkers

15/x #AmazonHurts

washingtonpost.com/technology/202…

Tennessee Amazon workers

16/x #AmazonHurts

perfectunion.us/photos-reveal-…

Amazon workers in Washington.

#17/x

businessinsider.com/amazon-warehou…

High ambient temperatures at an Amazon workstation, compounded by productivity quotas and limited breaks, increase the danger of heat-related illness, injury and death. @Public_Citizen

18/x #AmazonHurts

citizen.org/article/boilin…

Under these conditions Amazon workers can develop or trigger

🚨 heat exhaustion
🚨 muscle death
🚨 acute kidney injury
🚨 fatal heatstroke
🚨 renal failure
🚨 stroke
🚨 COPD
🚨 cardiac arrest

19/x #AmazonHurts

Workers can also experience fatigue, dizziness, distraction, loss of balance/coordination, fainting, muscle cramps and other heat stress symptoms that increase worker injuries like falling from ladders, vehicle accidents and accidents with machinery and tools.

20/x #AmazonHurts

Amazon workers have been organizing for better conditions and to protect their colleagues. At every step, @Amazon has aggressively attempted to undermine those efforts with retaliation, union-busting, and by creating a climate of fear.

21/x #AmazonHurts

smlr.rutgers.edu/news-events/sm…

For years, @Amazon has intentionally misrepresented the health and safety crisis its workers face—to workers, the public, shareholders, and lawmakers alike.

22/x #AmazonHurts

https://twitter.com/athenaforall/status/1552694421354946560

In 2020, @reveal found internal records that show @Amazon executives intentionally hid its safety crisis from the public and lawmakers.

23/x #AmazonHurts

revealnews.org/article/how-am…

@reveal @amazon In June, @OversightDems alleged that Amazon obstructed a Congressional investigation into the death of 6 workers due to the company’s negligence during #AmazonTornado collapse in Edwardsville, Illinois.

24/x #AmazonHurts

cnbc.com/2022/06/02/ama…

In July, @theSOC requested that @SECGov investigate CEO @ajassy's false and misleading statements about Amazon's injury rates to shareholders.

25/x #AmazonHurts

thesoc.org/wp-content/upl…

And just three weeks ago, Amazon attempted to pass off responsibility in Rafael Reynaldo Mota Frias’s death by claiming it was due to a “personal medical condition.”

26/x #AmazonHurts

gothamist.com/news/amazon-in…

It's time for @Amazon to learn, once and for all, that it's not above the law. We're hopeful that the federal investigations by @OSHA_DOL and @TheJusticeDept will hold Amazon accountable, and mandate significant changes to Amazon’s unsafe management practices.

27/x #AmazonHurts

At the same time, we call on your leadership in Congress to protect the health and safety of workers by bringing @Amazon + @ajassy before Congress to answer for the well-documented health & safety crisis at Amazon's fulfillment centers.

28/28 #AmazonHurts
athenaforall.medium.com/letter-to-cong…

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