This week, a Senate committee led by well-known populist firebrand Bernie Sanders released a report accusing e-commerce giant Amazon of fostering work conditions that are dangerous to the health of its employees. Worse, the report alleges that the company was aware that its internal policies were harming its employees, but repeatedly chose to ignore those harms in favor of corporate profits. Amazon flatly rejected the report’s conclusions.
reportThe report, prepared by the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, reveals that Amazon has conducted numerous internal investigations aimed at assessing risks to the health and safety of its employees. These reports, variously referred to as “Project Elderwand” and “Project Soteria,” ultimately reflected the company’s quota system (in which workers are required to meet certain productivity standards) and emphasis on speed ( workers are under pressure to complete tasks quickly). (Claim) It was driving workers to self-harm. Reports have suggested that Amazon ease quota requirements to avoid harming employees. However, the New York Times It is written as The company’s management ultimately “rejected the recommendations” from the internally commissioned report.
In fact, the commission said, “Not only does Amazon recognize the link between speed and injuries, but the company specifically rejects potential safety improvements and accepts worker injuries as a cost of doing business.” He said it was found that. The report goes on to say, “Incredibly, the company refuses to adopt its own recommended safety improvements, yet presents a misleading story about injury rates, and its warehouses… “They claim to be much safer than they actually are.”
The report said the injuries in question appeared to be caused by the worker’s repetitive physical movements during work hours. “Amazon forces its workers to make dangerous movements and repeat the same movements hundreds or thousands of times per shift, resulting in extremely high rates of musculoskeletal injuries. “While we are aware of these repetitive movements, working longer than 10 to 12 hours can lead to musculoskeletal disorders, and the company has taken steps to protect its workers,” the report said. refuses to take action.”
“The denial of worker protections is particularly egregious given Amazon’s staggering financial resources,” the report said, noting that Amazon is “the world’s sixth-largest company and the second-largest private employer in the United States.” , and that Jeff Bezos said: The company’s founder is the third richest person in the world.
When contacted by Gizmodo for comment, an Amazon spokesperson insisted that the report was based on old information that Amazon has since discredited. “Senator Sanders’ report is factually incorrect and uses old documents and unverifiable anecdotes to create a biased narrative,” Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly said in a statement. There is. “The truth is, our expectations for our employees are safe and reasonable.”
“Nevertheless, and despite the fact that Sen. Sanders approached this process with a preconceived narrative, we have worked with Sen. Sanders and his staff throughout this investigation and have compiled thousands of pages of documents. and other information,” the statement continued. . “We have also repeatedly requested that Senator Sanders visit one of our facilities to see first-hand our working conditions. Unfortunately, these invitations have gone unanswered. there is no.”
Despite the company’s rebuttal of the report’s findings, the Times notes that “the Senate report’s findings are consistent with investigations conducted by state and federal regulators in recent years.”
