On Amazon they prepare for Prime Day 2020 0:54
(CNN Business) -
Amazon is gearing up for one of its biggest events of the year, kicking off this Tuesday.
Adding to Amazon Prime Day is the ongoing pandemic and closely followed by the start of the holiday shopping season, leaving some workers concerned about the risks to their health and jobs.
CNN Business spoke with ten Amazon warehouse employees about conditions related to the pandemic and what it has been like to work during the past Prime Days and Christmas seasons.
Some spoke officially, while others did so on condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation.
Attitudes about policies related to the pandemic varied depending on the warehouse and department in which the workers were located.
At one warehouse, workers expressed concern about the ability to follow social distancing guidelines.
Also about the possibility of being reprimanded if they couldn't.
In others, employees were stressed out in anticipation of the extra work.
Demand for workers
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Under normal circumstances, Amazon warehouses are bustling with activity and workers.
However, the demand driven by the pandemic caused this to increase.
Since March, Amazon has hired 175,000 temporary employees to fill the surge in orders.
He then declared that he would keep 70% of them permanently.
In September, the company announced plans to hire 100,000 additional employees for its operations.
He also told Reuters that he was still evaluating the demand for seasonal employment.
Last year it announced that it would hire 200,000 workers to meet seasonal needs.
Following basic covid-19 precautions, such as maintaining six feet of social distancing, can become increasingly difficult in certain parts of Amazon's facilities as more workers are employed and package volume increases, six of the workers said. to CNN Business.
It can also be more difficult to become conscientious about sanitizing work areas while trying to keep up.
Overtime on Amazon Prime Day and other days
During busy periods, including the days around Amazon Prime Day, mandatory overtime is set, according to workers who spoke to CNN Business.
Employees at three locations said overtime was scheduled at their work sites for this week.
That means workers will put in more hours and spend more time inside warehouses.
This makes conditions more important than ever.
Amazon did not respond when asked if mandatory overtime was a policy at all of its facilities.
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During the pandemic, Gabby, an associate at an Amazon facility in Hawthorne, California, who asked that only her first name be used and who participated in a strike over working conditions, said she sometimes sacrificed speed to keep her distance. social or disinfect work areas.
And he explained that he received verbal warnings for not maintaining his productivity rate.
This is something that Amazon is known to follow closely among its workers.
Striking the balance between these two conditions could become even more difficult during Amazon Prime Day and the holiday season.
Social distancing and changes in processes
Some workers told CNN Business that Amazon emphasizes social distancing in certain areas of the facility, such as near entrances where cameras detect and show workers on a screen if they are six feet away with red and green rings.
Also in break rooms and dining rooms.
However, other areas of the facility are not as closely monitored, workers said.
An employee told CNN Business that he felt the company was not promoting social distancing in areas where workers huddle together to work on specific machinery.
Amazon said it has made more than 150 process updates to date to ensure the health and safety of its employees.
And that it has committed more than US $ 1 billion for new investments in operational security measures this year.
The figure includes investments in technology and improved cleaning measures.
Workers are required to use masks, which Amazon makes available, as well as to have their temperature controlled when entering the facilities.
According to Amazon, it has ambassadors for social distancing, in addition to other measures such as signage and lettering on the floor to guide workers in the facilities.
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Amazon's business has seen an increase in demand for its products and services during the pandemic, even as the broader economy is embroiled in a pandemic-induced recession.
But Amazon has also come under scrutiny, as warehouse workers and critics express concern about the spread of the coronavirus within its facilities.
Coronavirus Cases on Amazon
About 20,000 Amazon workers had covid-19 1:11
For months, Amazon refused to reveal the number of cases among its workforce.
Earlier this month, following pressure from workers and more than a dozen attorneys general, Amazon revealed that nearly 20,000 of its front-line U.S. employees at Amazon and Whole Foods tested positive or were presumed positive for coronavirus. .
In a blog post, the company said it did a “comprehensive analysis of data from the 1,372,000 front-line workers at Amazon and Whole Foods Market in the United States, employed anytime from March 1 to September 19, 2020 ».
The company broke down the data state by state.
This is something the attorneys general had requested in a letter in May to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Whole Foods Market CEO John Mackey.
CNN Business asked for a greater breakdown of cases among Wholes Foods and Amazon workers to understand how those rates compare to the general population.
Amazon declined to do so.
Notifications in warehouses
Terrell Worm, an Amazon associate at JFK8 in Staten Island who also participated in a strike, told CNN Business that knowing the total number "really doesn't help" workers like him.
"I'm concerned about my area, that's what I want to know, how many cases are there at my place of employment?" He said.
Amazon notifies workers about confirmed cases at the places where they work.
However, a company spokesperson confirmed to CNN Business in May that it changed an earlier approach and stopped including figures when reporting cases to employees.
"If Amazon wanted to clarify the real risk of covid-19 and its success in controlling the transmission of the virus, it would provide the actual number and rate of cases for each fulfillment center and Whole Foods store," said David Michaels, director of the Occupational Safety and Health Administration during the Obama Administration and professor at George Washington University.
Monitoring the situation in Minnesota
Behind the scenes, Amazon has been closely monitoring the spread of the virus within at least one warehouse: MSP1 in Shakopee, Minnesota.
As CNN Business reported in June and Bloomberg first reported, the company was breaking down the departments, shifts and counties of residence of workers confirmed to have coronavirus at the facility, according to an internal memo.
“Nothing is more important than the safety of our equipment.
We have reassigned a large number of our data scientists, technologists and operations employees to focus on COVID-19 and ensure the safety of our workforce, including thousands of people and our health and safety teams, ”said the spokeswoman for Amazon Kelly Cheeseman in a statement at the time.
The Minnesota Department of Health told CNN Business they had 219 cases among employees at the Amazon warehouse in Shakopee as of Sept. 29.
This is more than double the number of confirmed cases since the end of June.
Reports of retaliation
With their health at stake, worker activism has increased at several Amazon facilities during the pandemic.
And with it also increased claims by workers that Amazon is retaliating, accusations the company has denied.
The latest example was a protest at the Shakopee, Minnesota facility earlier this month over the firing of Farhiyo Warsame, who said she was pulled in late September for allegedly spending too much "time off work."
She told CNN Business that she was targeted for retaliation after expressing concern about the lack of adequate security protections.
It is the second time that workers at this facility have protested since the start of the pandemic over alleged retaliation against colleagues who expressed safety concerns.
Warsame is at least the third person who said they were fired from this facility after speaking out on the subject.
Amazon has said it has "zero tolerance for retaliation against employees who raise concerns and respects employees' rights to protest, and recognizes their legal right to do so."
Regarding Warsame, Amazon spokeswoman Jen Crowcroft said in a statement to CNN Business last week: “Like most companies, we have performance expectations for every member of the team.
While we cannot discuss individual performance, I can say that associate performance is measured and evaluated over time.
We support associates who are not performing at the expected level with training dedicated to helping them improve.
If their performance does not improve, corrective measures are taken and even dismissal.
(Warsame said he received no training and plans to appeal his dismissal.)
Holiday Season and Amazon Prime Day Concerns
With more than half of U.S. states reporting an increase in new coronavirus cases, the threat of contracting the virus remains a real concern for many who now have fewer financial protections from their employers than before in the United States. pandemic.
At the end of May, Amazon ended some of its benefits related to the Covid-19 that it had established in March.
This included the additional "risk pay" of US $ 2 per hour and double overtime pay.
Its policy that allowed warehouse workers to stay home for an unlimited number of days without pay was suspended in May.
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In June, Amazon issued a one-time "thank you bonus" to frontline workers.
The company continues to provide up to two weeks of paid break time to employees diagnosed with coronavirus.
He also established a relief fund for seasonal employees, and associates such as delivery men, who are facing financial difficulties.
Worm, a Staten Island worker, told CNN Business he has "concerns for the future."
"Once the Christmas season comes around, there are usually a lot more people in the building at the same time, I don't know how they're going to solve it," he explained.
Amazoncoronaviruscovid-19Prime Day
