Sanders launching investigation into Amazon labor practices

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Tuesday that he will launch a Senate investigation into labor conditions at Amazon warehouses and the company’s treatment of workers who are injured on the job.

“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 said in a letter to Amazon executives.

Sanders, the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, in March confronted former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz on labor issues. He also backed unionization efforts last year at some of Amazon’s warehouses.

Sanders separately pressured President Biden to halt federal contracts with Amazon, alleging that the company violated federal labor law.

“Amazon should be one of the safest places in America to work, not one of the most dangerous. If Amazon can afford to spend $6 billion on stock buybacks last year, it can afford to make sure that its warehouses are safe places to work,” Sanders said in the letter.

Amazon has been cited over a dozen times by the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) for record-keeping violations and safety problems at its warehouses. OSHA levied three fines against Amazon in January as part of a larger investigation into warehouse safety.

Sanders criticized Amazon for providing injured workers with “minimal medical care,” and cited it as a reason for Amazon’s high worker turnover rate.

An Amazon spokesperson said that the company has received and is reviewing Sanders’ letter.

Amazon contested Sanders’ claims, saying that the figures that he cites do not show the full picture and that Amazon is indeed a safe place to work. 

“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,” Amazon spokesperson Steve Kelly said. 

“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,” he added.

Alongside the letter and investigation, Sanders and the HELP Committee launched a site Tuesday for Amazon workers to report on their labor conditions and levy complaints with the company.

“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 site reads.