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Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

bloomberg.com

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Re: Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

#11

Post by xchaotic »

kevingadd wrote: post #4
replyguy912 wrote: post #2

This seems reasonable and beyond what other major employers are offering, but as is the fashion I'm sure Amazon will be convicted in the court of public interwebs shortly...

What's a few avoidable deaths between friends, after all? There are multiple active outbreaks in crowded factories and other facilities, just like an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. They do not have necessary safety equipment and procedures in place yet. Forcing people to show up to work under these conditions is murder. They could fix it, though. A starting point would be Amazon providing tests and ensuring that every…

Yeah, I don’t see how few extra bucks is worth literally risking life. Total numbers look big but really it’s $120 more per each shift where you can be exposed or expose others to a deadly virus.

Re: Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

#13

Post by flyGuyOnTheSly »

kevingadd wrote: post #4
replyguy912 wrote: post #2

This seems reasonable and beyond what other major employers are offering, but as is the fashion I'm sure Amazon will be convicted in the court of public interwebs shortly...

What's a few avoidable deaths between friends, after all? There are multiple active outbreaks in crowded factories and other facilities, just like an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. They do not have necessary safety equipment and procedures in place yet. Forcing people to show up to work under these conditions is murder. They could fix it, though. A starting point would be Amazon providing tests and ensuring that every…

>A starting point would be Amazon providing tests and ensuring that everyone has been tested before returning to work

Amazon can't win.

If they did that, the newspaper headlines would read "Bezos demands DNA samples of workers as a prerequisite to being paid."

Re: Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

#14

Post by jonknee »

kevingadd wrote: post #4
replyguy912 wrote: post #2

This seems reasonable and beyond what other major employers are offering, but as is the fashion I'm sure Amazon will be convicted in the court of public interwebs shortly...

What's a few avoidable deaths between friends, after all? There are multiple active outbreaks in crowded factories and other facilities, just like an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. They do not have necessary safety equipment and procedures in place yet. Forcing people to show up to work under these conditions is murder. They could fix it, though. A starting point would be Amazon providing tests and ensuring that every…

From their post on the topic it sounds like you should be happy with their plan:

https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/how-amazon-priorit...

> Millions of masks have been distributed across our network. They are available to all Amazon associates, delivery service partners, Amazon Flex participants, seasonal employees, and Whole Foods Market stores employees. We are encouraging everyone to take and use them.

As for testing, they have been unable to do it through regular channels so they are building a lab to do it themselves:

> An important safety step might be regular testing of all employees for COVID-19, including those without symptoms. We have begun assembling equipment we need to build our first lab to process tests and hope to start testing small numbers of our frontline employees soon.

As for cleanliness:

> We have increased the frequency and intensity of cleaning at all sites, including regular sanitization of door handles, handrails, touch screens, scanners, and other frequently touched areas.

> Our enhanced cleaning has added almost 200 additional points of contact per site across our janitorial teams, and we’ve increased the size of our cleaning teams threefold to support our buildings.

> We require everyone to wash their hands often with soap and water for at least 20 seconds, especially after using the bathroom and before eating, as well as after blowing their nose, coughing, or sneezing. If soap and water are not readily available, alcohol-based hand sanitizer stations are easily accessible throughout our buildings.

> In addition to break times, employees can log out of their system to wash their hands whenever they choose, without worrying about impact on their performance goals.

Re: Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

#16

Post by mod »

kevingadd wrote: post #4
replyguy912 wrote: post #2

This seems reasonable and beyond what other major employers are offering, but as is the fashion I'm sure Amazon will be convicted in the court of public interwebs shortly...

What's a few avoidable deaths between friends, after all? There are multiple active outbreaks in crowded factories and other facilities, just like an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. They do not have necessary safety equipment and procedures in place yet. Forcing people to show up to work under these conditions is murder. They could fix it, though. A starting point would be Amazon providing tests and ensuring that every…

> Forcing people to show up to work under these conditions is murder.

Nobody can be forced to show up, and no, that's not murder.

> A starting point would be...

Amazon has a page listing their pretty thorough adjustments for health & safety: https://blog.aboutamazon.com/company-news/how-amazon-priorit...

Re: Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

#17

Post by speedgoose »

> The company has said criticisms of its safety measures are unfounded.

Well, the French justice forced them to improve their safety measures. They had to close down for 5 days to do so. I don't remember reading about them doing that worldwide. However, I do remember them complaining in emails sent to their French customers that they are forced to improve the safety measures and that the French justice is not nice. It was a bit ridiculous and not well received.

Re: Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

#18

Post by jcims »

newacct583 wrote: post #9
kevingadd wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a few avoidable deaths between friends, after all? There are multiple active outbreaks in crowded factories and other facilities, just like an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. They do not have necessary safety equipment and procedures in place yet. Forcing people to show up to work under these conditions is murder. They could fix it, though. A starting point would be Amazon providing tests and ensuring that every…

> What's a few avoidable deaths between friends, after all? Amazon is about as close to the ideal of an "essential employer" as anyone is, though. They're shipping a huge amount of food and other essentials. Objectively, a package delivered through a managed professional environment is less risky and involves fewer potential transmission events than one purchased at retail. Online sellers, where they have product to…

I'm glad I waited an extra minute to comment b/c you did all the work. Amazon has allowed me to limit my local travels to two physical environments for essentially the past six weeks. There's a value to that in reducing transmission.

Re: Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

#19

Post by kevingadd »

newacct583 wrote: post #9
kevingadd wrote: post #4

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What's a few avoidable deaths between friends, after all? There are multiple active outbreaks in crowded factories and other facilities, just like an Amazon fulfillment warehouse. They do not have necessary safety equipment and procedures in place yet. Forcing people to show up to work under these conditions is murder. They could fix it, though. A starting point would be Amazon providing tests and ensuring that every…

> What's a few avoidable deaths between friends, after all? Amazon is about as close to the ideal of an "essential employer" as anyone is, though. They're shipping a huge amount of food and other essentials. Objectively, a package delivered through a managed professional environment is less risky and involves fewer potential transmission events than one purchased at retail. Online sellers, where they have product to…

Like I said, they can fix the problem. It sounds like they're trying, but it's not proven that they've gotten all the way. In the past they were clearly inadequate and it's why employees went on strike and publicly protested.

"Essential employees" shouldn't be put at risk just because people need them to ship stuff out. We shouldn't put "essential employees"' immune-compromised relatives at risk either.

Re: Amazon asks workers sheltering at home to return or request leave

#20

Post by uoaei »

> These extensions increase our total investment in pay during COVID-19 to nearly $700 million for our hourly employees and partners.

This is a drop in the bucket for Amazon. They are able to pay much better but do not. If the savings were being passed onto the customers, that's one thing, but with all the recent news about Amazon's practices, it's easy and convenient to take the cynical route.

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