Workers from Amazon, Instacart, and others are calling in sick to protest poor virus protections
On May 1st, workers from Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, FedEx, Target, and Walmart joined together in a series of work stoppages to protest conditions and equipment in the face of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The actions have been organized by a range of groups within the various companies, but are timed to coincide with International Workers’ Day. The groups are encouraging customers to boycott the stores and services for the duration of the day.
Organizers at Amazon said thousands of employees are participating in the actions nationwide.
The groups are calling for better practices and equipment to protect frontline workers from contracting the disease at work. Specifics of those protections vary between companies and jobs: Instacart workers are calling for better distribution of personal protective equipment (or PPE), while Whole Foods workers are calling for locations with positive cases to be shut down for 14 days.
Amazon delivery service partners are asking for professional cleaners to sanitize vehicles at the end of each shift. Currently, drivers are provided with cleaning supplies and asked to sanitize the vehicles themselves.
Amazon has refused to disclose the number of employees who have tested positive for COVID-19, communicating only individual cases to the employees affected. As part of today’s action, Amazon employees are pushing back against that practice and calling on the company to “be transparent and honest about the number of cases they have in their facilities.”
Earlier this month, Amazon implemented new policies to protect workers from the virus, including two weeks of paid sick leave and unlimited unpaid leave for employees who believe they may have been exposed. But implementation of the policies has been uneven, and the broader uncertainty has fueled further organizing efforts within the company.
“Are you being pressured to forge or doctor any sanitation logs?” one organizing document distributed among Whole Foods workers reads. “Are your leaders putting aside store sales and tight labor budgets to prioritize your health and well-being?”
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
On May 1st, workers from Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, FedEx, Target, and Walmart joined together in a series of work stoppages to protest conditions and equipment in the face of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The actions have been organized by a range of groups within the various companies, but are…
Recent Posts
- A battle might be brewing as talks swirl of OpenAI working on a search engine to challenge Google’s dominance
- Multibillion-dollar Apple deal looms large in Google antitrust trial
- Everything new on Netflix in May 2024
- The Morning After: Peloton’s grim post-pandemic reality
- Netflix’s Cobra Kai season 6 will be a mega 15 episode epic released in 3 parts from July
Archives
- May 2024
- April 2024
- March 2024
- February 2024
- January 2024
- December 2023
- November 2023
- October 2023
- September 2023
- August 2023
- July 2023
- June 2023
- May 2023
- April 2023
- March 2023
- February 2023
- January 2023
- December 2022
- November 2022
- October 2022
- September 2022
- August 2022
- July 2022
- June 2022
- May 2022
- April 2022
- March 2022
- February 2022
- January 2022
- December 2021
- November 2021
- October 2021
- September 2021
- August 2021
- July 2021
- June 2021
- May 2021
- April 2021
- March 2021
- February 2021
- January 2021
- December 2020
- November 2020
- October 2020
- September 2020
- August 2020
- July 2020
- June 2020
- May 2020
- April 2020
- March 2020
- February 2020
- January 2020
- December 2019
- November 2019
- December 2011