Interviews with 40 Amazon employees and government documents: Amazon's COVID-19 response lacks oversight and transparency with inadequate worker safety policies
NBC News : Tweets: @cfarivar , @sallyshin , @hashtagmolotov , @jonschuppe , @tonyajoriley , @adielkaplan , @lowerformofwit , @brandyzadrozny , @adielkaplan , @adielkaplan , @cfarivar , @cfarivar , @aprilaser , @aprilaser , @cfarivar , @david_ingram , @jordannovet , @aprilaser , and @oliviasolon Tweets: Cyrus Farivar / @cfarivar : THREAD: It's bonkers that Amazon won't tell its own workers any meaningful details re COVID-19 infections in their workplace. This is what such notices look like. They are perfunctory disclosures and contain little actionable information. https://www.nbcnews.com/... https://twitter.com/... Sally Shin / @sallyshin : New reporting from our biz/tech unit: Amazon wouldn't disclose to public health officials infections in its facilities & workers were left in the dark about outbreaks in warehouses making it hard to track COVID spread. @oliviasolon @aprilaser @cfarivar @EzraNBC @adielkaplan https://twitter.com/... @hashtagmolotov : “To my knowledge no one in my facility was even told they were close enough to a positive case to quarantine, and it's a pretty small facility, so it seems impossible that no one came into contact with one of the people who was sick.” - @jPhoniks https://twitter.com/... Jon Schuppe / @jonschuppe : The company that loves to collect data about people isn't so good about sharing what they know about workers contracting coronavirus. A story from our @NBCNews tech investigations dream team: https://www.nbcnews.com/... Tonya Riley / @tonyajoriley : This is a masterpiece of public records reporting and I'm so jealous. (Also just incredible important journalism please read) https://www.nbcnews.com/... Adiel Kaplan / @adielkaplan : NEW: Amazon's business has boomed during the pandemic. But a lack of transparency combined with the lack of federal protections for workers who contract disease in the workplace, make it almost impossible to track the spread of Covid-19 at its warehouses. https://www.nbcnews.com/... Hipster Analyst / @lowerformofwit : They can track a packet of pencils to my front door and email me when they arrive... https://twitter.com/... Brandy Zadrozny / @brandyzadrozny : OK not all Facebook groups are bad. https://www.nbcnews.com/... https://twitter.com/... Adiel Kaplan / @adielkaplan : Experts have said since March that OSHA should be doing much more to protect workers. It has no specific rule for protecting workers from infectious disease (though it was working on one under Obama that was stalled when Trump took office). And it hasn't passed an emergency rule. Adiel Kaplan / @adielkaplan : Federal OSHA is “asleep” as one expert put it. More than a dozen state AGs are asking Amazon for more data about covid cases. Workers feel forgotten. Meanwhile, we're heading into the holiday season, and with it an Amazon hiring blitz. https://www.nbcnews.com/... Cyrus Farivar / @cfarivar : What's even more bonkers is that for months, public health officials lack a full picture in many instances. Here's Kenosha Co, WI health director Dr. Jen Freiheit in May 2020: “Amazon has been less than easy to work with.” https://www.documentcloud.org/ ... https://twitter.com/... Cyrus Farivar / @cfarivar : Lack of oversight and transparency leave Amazon employees in the dark on Covid-19 (by @aprilaser, @oliviasolon, @cfarivar, @adielkaplan, @KaplanEzra) https://www.nbcnews.com/... April Glaser / @aprilaser : The vacuum in oversight over workplace safety in the U.S. is dire. OSHA has no requirements for protecting workers from an infectious disease. Many state health depts aren't collecting data either. Interviews with 40 Amazon workers revealed the cost: https://www.nbcnews.com/... April Glaser / @aprilaser : Amazon workers described how they receive btwn 2-3 vague notifications per week about positive cases in the facilities and being penalized for sanitizing between shifts. “I feel like we're just cattle to the slaughter,” an employee at JAX1 in Florida said https://www.nbcnews.com/... Cyrus Farivar / @cfarivar : Here in California, @LorenaSGonzalez sent this letter to Amazon in June 2020 asking a simple question: “What is the number of Amazon employees in California who have tested positive or been diagnosed with COVID-19?” https://www.documentcloud.org/ ... https://twitter.com/... David Ingram / @david_ingram : “NBC News talked to 40 Amazon employees from 23 facilities who said that many of the safety measures Amazon enacted at the start of the pandemic are either no longer active or difficult to enforce.” https://www.nbcnews.com/... Just astonishing. Jordan Novet / @jordannovet : 'The texts we get distinguish between whether there was one case or multiple cases found that day, but that's as specific as it gets. You don't know whether they were on your shift or in the same section as you.' -Amazon FC worker John Hopkins https://www.nbcnews.com/... April Glaser / @aprilaser : We set out to learn how Covid-19 has spread at Amazon warehouses, as sales skyrocket during quarantine. And we found little oversight from local health depts, lax OSHA requirements to keep workers safe, thousands of sick workers and at least 10 deaths https://www.nbcnews.com/... Olivia Solon / @oliviasolon : It's almost impossible to track Covid-19 outbreaks in Amazon warehouses. Amazon won't release the data. Public health officials are not routinely collecting information about a patient's workplace. OSHA isn't doing its job. It's lose, lose for workers. https://www.nbcnews.com/...