Leaders of America’s largest labor unions, 45 New York elected officials and a group of Amazon employees called on Amazon to change its warehouse policies and practices in response to the novel coronavirus outbreak.
Their letter, to Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos and other senior executives, amplifies calls made by Amazon warehouse workers, including some who went on strike in New York on Monday to protest the company’s handling of the outbreak. An unknown number of Amazon employees around the company’s fulfillment and delivery network — including a confirmed coronavirus case at a Seattle-area warehouse last week — have fallen ill with COVID-19, the disease caused by the virus, as the pandemic has strained its operations like never before.
The letter marks a new level of focus on Amazon by organized labor, which previously has had little success organizing the company’s workers outside of Europe, and comes amid growing unrest among gig economy and warehouse workers whose services have taken on new importance amid widespread stay-at-home orders and economic disruptions.