Getty PicturesAmazon pushes its US warehouse staff to satisfy orders at speeds that might trigger excessive charges of damage regardless of being conscious of the dangers, an investigation led by Senator Bernie Sanders has discovered.
The findings, following an 18-month probe of the agency, help claims that staff and labour campaigners have made in regards to the firm for years.
The report accused the agency of rejecting modifications that may have decreased staff’ tempo, however improved security due to issues about its backside line.
However Amazon stated the report was “fallacious on the details”, and featured “selective, outdated data that lacks context and is not grounded in actuality”.
“This investigation wasn’t a fact-finding mission, however somewhat an try to gather data and twist it to help a false narrative,” the corporate stated.
Amazon, which employs roughly 800,000 folks within the US, has confronted accusations about unsafe circumstances at its warehouses for years.
These issues ramped up throughout the Covid pandemic, when e-commerce exploded, resulting in protests by its staff around the globe.
Amid the controversy, founder Jeff Bezos stated the corporate wanted to do higher by its staff.
Senator Sanders, who is understood for his pro-worker stance, launched an investigation into Amazon’s practices in June 2023. Senate staffers performed 135 interviews and reviewed greater than 1,000 paperwork.
Their evaluation of public data discovered that warehouses operated by Amazon recorded over 30% extra accidents than the warehousing trade common in 2023.
Amazon staff have been additionally almost twice as prone to be injured than folks working in warehouses operated by different corporations in every of the final seven years, in accordance with the report, which was signed off by Democratic members of the Senate’s Committee on Well being, Schooling, Labor and Pensions.
Amazon had internally examined connections between office velocity and damage charges, together with in a overview referred to as Mission Soteria, in accordance with the investigation.
However the report stated the corporate opted to not undertake the really useful modifications, which included offering extra day off to staff, and halting disciplinary motion towards individuals who didn’t meet working velocity necessities.
Investigators additionally accused Amazon of making an attempt to “manipulate” knowledge to mislead the general public about its security document.
Amazon stated it was honest for the agency to focus security comparisons on bigger warehouses.
It accused the Senate investigation of ignoring inconvenient details, reminiscent of a decline in its damage charges and a latest court docket victory, which dismissed security complaints.
It stated one other group requested to overview the suggestions of Amazon’s inner security examine had discovered that the methodology was “unsound”.
“Nothing” is extra necessary to the agency than worker security, Amazon stated.
“Sen. Sanders and his workers selected to depend on the debunked Soteria evaluation as a result of it suits the false narrative he wished to construct,” the corporate added.
