By State Representative Kim Schofield (D-Atlanta)
(895 words)
Last year, I toured an Amazon facility in my district following concerns from workers that severe safety issues were going unaddressed. During my tour at the ATL6 facility in East Point, I spoke directly to Amazon ATL6 employees who raised concerns about issues, including but not limited to: lack of training for new hires, overheating in the warehouse, inadequate break periods, rising injury rates from unsafe working conditions, constant management surveillance, ineffective health and safety teams, increased workloads with no pay increase, unsafe working pace, unstable scheduling and lack of security measures outside of the warehouse. What followed was a robust campaign by these Amazon associates, supported by the worker advocacy organization United for Respect and legislators including myself, to get Amazon to address the deteriorating working conditions at the facility that were putting associates at risk. In an effort to get Amazon to listen to its employees and take concrete action to improve working conditions, associates sent letters to management, held on-site meetings and rallied at the facility to make their voices heard.
Continue reading “It’s Time to Hold Billion-Dollar Retailers Accountable for Worker Safety”