AOC and Congress want to know if Amazon forces employees to work during dangerous weather events

Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the Congressional Oversight Committee have sent a letter to Amazon CEO Adam Jassy informing him they are investigating whether Amazon forces employees to work during dangerous weather events. In the letter, the Congressional Oversight Committee committee expresses concern over recent and past reports that Amazon employees and contractors are threatened with job loss if they seek shelter during extreme weather conditions. Specifically, the letter points to the deadly tornado strikes in Edwardsville, Illinois, in December 2021, in which six Amazon workers at a local warehouse were killed. As the letter points out: Before he died in the Amazon warehouse collapse, Amazon employee Larry Virden texted his girlfriend, “Amazon won’t let us leave.” According to dispatcher messages, a contract delivery driver located outside the Edwardsville facility, who expressed concern about the growing storms, was told by her supervisor to “just keep delivering, we can’t just call people back for a warning unless amazon [sic] tells us to do so.” When the driver reported continued tornado alarms and asked permission to seek safety, she was told such a choice “will ultimately end with you not having a job come tomorrow morning.” The letter also inquires about reports of Amazon workers being required to keep working during wildfires in California in 2018 and flooding caused by Hurricane Irma in 2017 and Hurricane Ida in 2021, among other events. “The Committee seeks to fully understand the events that led to the tragedy at Amazon’s Edwardsville facility,” the letter reads. “We also seek information about Amazon’s workplace policies or practices that may have prevented the workers from seeking safe shelter, as well as Amazon’s actions in responding to other severe weather incidents and natural disasters.” The Congressional Oversight Committee is giving Amazon until April 14 to hand over documents and communications related to the extreme weather events noted as well as Amazon’s policies on working during extreme weather events. We’ve reached out to Amazon for comment and will update this post if we hear back.

https://www.fastcompany.com/90737759/aoc-and-congress-want-to-know-if-amazon-forces-employees-to-work-during-dangerous-weather-events?partner=rss&utm_source=rss&utm_medium=feed&utm_campaign=rss+fastcompany&utm_content=rss

Created 3y | Apr 4, 2022, 2:21:16 PM


Login to add comment

Other posts in this group

TikTok Notes is shutting down as Lemon8 steps in

TikTok is shutting down TikTok Notes—wait, you didn’t even know it existed? Well, that explains a lot.

TikTok Notes, the platform’s short-lived attempt to take on Instagram (just as Inst

Apr 3, 2025, 7:40:05 PM | Fast company - tech
Women dominate online influencing. So why are they paid less?

Influencing has a major pay gap, and it’s not what you might expect. 

A new report from Collabstr, based on over 15,0

Apr 3, 2025, 7:40:04 PM | Fast company - tech
An OpenAI ‘open’ model shows how much the company—and AI—has changed in two years

Welcome to AI DecodedFast Company’s weekly newsletter that breaks down the most important news in the world of AI. You can sign up to receive this newsletter every week 

Apr 3, 2025, 5:20:11 PM | Fast company - tech
How Elon Musk’s political gambit could tarnish his legacy at Tesla

Tech leaders often brand themselves as “disruptors”—and few fit that label more snugly than Elon Musk. In the three months since joining Donald Trump in the White House following Trump’s election,

Apr 3, 2025, 5:20:10 PM | Fast company - tech
Visa unveils a trio of new tools to make the payments process easier

At Visa’s ETA Transact event on April 3, the payments giant introduced three new products designed to simplify and secure payment acceptance. These innovations—Authorize.net 2.0, Unified Checkout,

Apr 3, 2025, 12:40:06 PM | Fast company - tech
Straight Talk Wireless rolls out smartphone vending machines at Walmart stores

For those tired of waiting in line to buy a new smartphone or anxiously refreshing a delivery tracking site to make sure a new phone arrives intact, Verizon’s

Apr 3, 2025, 10:30:03 AM | Fast company - tech