Vermont Senator Bernie Sanders is no fan of Amazon’s (AMZN) employee safety policies and is rolling out a new investigation to probe the retail giant’s warehouse working conditions.
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Sanders, the chairman of the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pension Committee, opened the investigation on June 20, citing Amazon’s “abysmal safety record” in its warehouse operations.
Not surprisingly, Sanders believes Amazon’s “endless pursuit of profits” is tied to the charges.
“The company’s quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year,” Sanders wrote in a June 20 letter to Amazon CEO Andy Jassy.
“The company’s quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year,” Sanders wrote. “At every turn – from warehouse design to work station setup, to the pace of work requirements, to medical care for injuries and subsequent pressure to return to work – Amazon makes decisions that actively harm workers in the name of its bottom line.”
Amazon responded to the letter, noting it had “received Chairman Sanders’ letter . . . and are in the early stages of reviewing it,” according to Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly. The company also told Sanders he has an “open invitation” to tour one of the Amazon warehouses, according to The Washington Post.
In comments to CNN, Kelly took a more aggressive tone in comments to CNN.
“Amazon strongly disagrees with Senator Sanders’ assertions,” Kelly said. “We take the safety and health of our employees very seriously. There will always be ways to improve, but we’re proud of the progress we’ve made which includes a 23% reduction in recordable injuries across our U.S. operations since 2019.”
“We’ve invested more than $1 billion into safety initiatives, projects, and programs in the last four years, and we’ll continue investing and inventing in this area because nothing is more important than our employees’ safety,” Kelly added.
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In announcing the investigation, Sanders’s office also created a website where Amazon employees could submit personal on-the-job stories to augment the Senate Committee’s investigation.
“Chairman Sanders wants to hear from current or former workers, supervisors, medical staff, or anyone else in Amazon's warehouses about their experiences to help inform that investigation,” the website stated. “The submissions are confidential and will help the Committee investigate how the company fails to protect workers and evades responsibility for their necessary medical care.”
