Thread by @jbarab

Hearing in warehouse worker safety starting. Info on a hazards at #Amazon and elsewhere.

https://twitter.com/jbarab/status/1592953328937631744

From Chairwoman @RepAdams : Serious injury rate for workers at #Amazon warehouses was more than double the rate at non-Amazon warehouses. 60 hour/week backbreaking work & mandatory overtime.

Also major problems with temporary workers who receive less training and protections. Sister of temp worker killed in warehouse will testify.

Republican ranking member @RepFredKeller says Dems refuse to recognize vast majority of "job creators" are concerned about their members. Defending OSHA's aggressive approach will not help safety. More unions and federal control won't help.

According to Republican @RepFredKellernotes vilifying employers won't help. Need more compliance assistance. Dems REAL goal is mass unionization, more union and government control over businesses. More punishment, unions and federal control will slow job creation

Sheheryar Kaoosji, @sheheyk Exec. Dir. Warehouse Worker Resource Center: Need better joint employer responsibility. Heat plus high production quotas make warehouse work especially hazardous. #Amazon's hazardous working conditions have become the industry standard.

Strategic Organizing Center Director Eric Frumin testifies that #Amazon workers suffer more serious injuries to warehouse workers than all other warehouses combined. Jumped 20% last year. Injured away from jobs for average 9 weeks.

Frumin: Amazon's system emphasizes production profit over worker safety. Workers threatened to be fired if they don't keep up. Amazon knows how solve this. When they suspended work-rate requirement during COVID, injuries dropped.

Washington State OSHA issued WILLFUL violations against #Amazon for high pace of work and found direct connection between Amazons employee monitoring and discipline system and high rate of injuries.

Willful #OSHA violation mean that the company shows "intentionally disregard" or be "plainly indifferent" to OSHA law.

"If any employer deserves that description today it is #Amazon."

Meanwhile Amazon continues to lie about injury rates and blame workers for injuries.

Frumin:
Injury rate in #Amazon warehouse in Albany is highest in the country. "For members of this committee, this rate of injury would mean that 8 of you would be injured badly enough over the past 2 years to be unable to do your won job

Frumin: #Amazon CEO "Andy Jassy could issue an order this afternoon to stop firing workers who bodies just require a break from the pressure. Nothing prevents him from doing so."

Republican witness Manesh Rath testifies that employers he works with are trying to understand cause of worker injuries and have successfully driven injuries down using acclimatization to reduce musculoskeletal injuries, buddy system to teach sound safety practices & technology.

Rath: Increases in production speed need not lead to more injuries. Injuries from increased production speed can be addressed through machine guarding and personal protective equipment. (Huh?)

OSHA should just do more Alliances and compliance assistance to help employers.

Janeth Caicedo tearfully testifies about her brother, a temp worker, killed in a warehouse in 2019. "Nothing, nothing has been the same again." Company didn't follow #OSHA standards. Equipment unsafe, inadequate training.

Janeth Caicedo: If temp workers speak up about safety, they are taken off of shifts or fired. Nearly half of NJ temp workers are "temporary" workers and majority work for more than 2 years.

Frumin: to ensure temperature control in warehouses, measure heat, train workers about hazard and warning signs, workers must report conditions and have the right to be protected from heat to ensure employers don't avoid legal requirements.

Kaoosji: California is working on indoor heat standard (they already have outdoor) that will allow workers to take breaks, and have access to water.

Republican Ranking member Virginia Foxx says Dems real goal is to bash job creators and promote policies that drive all workers into unions regardless of their preference.

Republican Witness Rath: Government must play collaborative role, rather than confrontational. Guidance, alliances, consultation rather than enforcement.

Republican Foxx: "I know of no employer in this country who will knowing put workers at risk anywhere, leastwise in warehouses. Employers care about their employees, personally." We should do more to help employers, instead of just trying to unionize them.

Kaoosji: Temp workers push through breaks & lunch to show they're keeping up with rates or they won't get work the next day. Need legislation that stop management from imposing quotas that keep workers from being able to use the restroom or meal breaks

Softball question from SubCttee Ranking Member Keller (R-PA) to Rath: "Do employers care about the health & safety of their workers."

Rath: Employers go above & beyond OSHA to protect workers.

Keller: "I know employers care..." We talk about Amazon and WalMart, but what about USPS run by government. If we were really concerned, we would look at everyone.

Probably no one feels worse about employees getting hurt than the employer.

Keller: We talk about "wage theft," but what about when we raise taxes. We raise taxes on people but don't call that wage theft. We probably should.

More weirdness. Republican witness Rath argues that high rates in warehouses in '20, '21 are due to over-reporting of COVID-19, which Miller-Meeks (R-IA) states that a majority of cases were acquired in non-workplace settings.

Miller-Meeks (R-IA) asks Rath why repealed #OSHA ergo standard received so much opposition. Rath: Ergo std would have required expensive engineering controls for single injury while there would be greater injury reduction by focusing on other things like slips, trips & falls

Rath (cont'd) And OSHA is only allowed to address "significant" health concerns, not a single #ergonomic injury.

Which had nothing to do with why the ergo standard was repealed. It was a Republican #Gingrich-inspired ideological battle against #OSHA and worker protections.

Rep Jayapal (D-WI) notes that Amazon has a health and safety workforce of 8,000 worldwide and asks at what point they were deployed to address clear, long-lasting problems in WA warehouse.
Frumin: Never. Until #OSHA inspector showed up.

Rep Jayapal (R-WA) notes that instead of improving unsafe conditions in their fulfillment centers, #Amazon is suing state of Washington.

In other words, Amazon CEO Jassy and Amazon could have been a contender in workplace safety; instead they're a bum.

Blame the Worker Question: Rep. Owens (R-UT) asks how a "buddy system" can keep workers safe.
Rath: Experienced workers can share safe practices, observe & monitor unsafe practices & impart a top-down worker safety "corporate culture" because...

Rath "one worker's vulnerability to injuries and illnesses is often dependent on the compliance of workers adjacent to him...and the buddy system can impart safety culture.

OK, let's stop and "unpack" this B.S. for a moment. According to Rath, injuries are not a result of unsafe conditions, but rather failure of workers to understand "corporate culture" that prioritizes safety, and co-workers should be observing and correcting their unsafe behavior.

This is the classic corporate excuse for high levels of injuries and illnesses. Injuries allegedly the result of unsafe behaviors. Observe and discipline them for getting hurt. If only they believed in "safety first," the unsustainable rates & unsafe conditions wouldn't hurt them

Chairman Scott: How to improve conditions for Temps.
Kaoosji: Training (1st days are most dangerous), reduction of pace of work, moving them to permanent full-time employment so they don't have to worry about working tomorrow.

Scott: Do robotics help worker safety as Mr. Rath had argued?

Frumin: Just the opposite. Amazon is the biggest user of robotics. Workers end up working at the machine's faster pace with no flexibility. Turns clock back 100 years, making workers a function of the machine's pace.

Omar: Why doesn't Amazon fix safety problems?

Frumin: Deep investment in business model to get products out the door & beat their competitors. And they're proud of it.

They won't change on their own. (They don't even admit they have a problem) They have to be forced to change

Rep Omar (D-MN) How can #Amazon deal better with high heat?
Furmin: Allow workers to speak up & decent medical staff. But Amazon has unqualified people giving improper treatment.
Kaoosji: Collective action by workers to demand breaks.

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