Amazon Prime Day has been a big cause of injuries to warehouse workers, a year-long Senate committee investigation found.
The injuries have affected employees who pick and pack customer orders in facilities across the nation, a report Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) released Tuesday said, the Associated Press (AP) reported.
Sanders commented:
The incredibly dangerous working conditions at Amazon revealed in this investigation are a perfect example of the type of corporate greed that the American people are sick and tired of. Despite making $36 billion in profits last year and providing its CEO with over $275 million in compensation over the past three years, Amazon continues to treat its workers as disposable and with complete contempt for their safety and wellbeing. That is unacceptable and that has got to change. Amazon must be held accountable for the horrendous working conditions at its warehouses and substantially reduce its injury rates.
Incredibly, during Prime Day week in 2019, nearly 45% of Amazon's warehouse workers were injured. Amazon is a $2 trillion corporation owned by Jeff Bezos worth $215 billion. Corporate greed at Amazon is off the charts. It must be held accountable. pic.twitter.com/tP1zVKtaDY
— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) July 16, 2024
The report cited company data from 2019 and 2020, the AP said, noting that the highest number of injuries occurred during peak shopping times. The preliminary report was also based on interviews conducted with over 100 current and former Amazon workers.
“According to the Senate report, 45 out of 100 warehouse [workers] at Amazon received injuries during the 2019 Prime Day event,” the AP article stated. “The number included minor injuries the company was not required to disclose to the federal government, such as bruises and superficial cuts, but also serious ones such as concussions that should have been reported, it said.”
In April 2021, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos told shareholders in a final letter as its CEO that the e-commerce company must “do a better job for our employees” after reports surfaced of poor working conditions, according to Breitbart News.
To read more articles about Bezos, please click here.
Per the recent AP report, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said, “The claims that we systemically underreport injuries, and that our actual injury rates are higher than publicly reported, are false. We’re required to report every injury that needs more than basic first aid, and that’s what we do.”
Meanwhile, experts are warning shoppers to be wary of scams on Amazon Prime Day (actually a two-day event) which began on Tuesday, according to AP.
