Sanders invites Bezos to testify at inequality hearing

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced Friday that he has invited Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos to testify at a hearing about inequality scheduled for next week.

The Senate Budget Committee chairman has already secured the testimony of one worker at the e-commerce giant’s Bessemer, Ala., plant, where a unionization vote is in progress.

Jennifer Bates, who trains employees at the warehouse, will appear alongside multiple economists at the hearing titled “The Income and Wealth Inequality Crisis in America.”

A spokesperson for Amazon told The Hill that Bezos will not attend the hearing. 

Sanders has been a prominent critic of Bezos, who is set to step down from the top Amazon spot in the third quarter of 2021.

The Vermont lawmaker has called out the company’s labor conditions, and sent a letter to Amazon last year expressing concern over its response to the coronavirus pandemic.

The Bessemer plant’s election, the second at an Amazon facility in the U.S., kicked off last month.

The nearly 6,000 workers in the bargaining unit are still in the midst of deciding whether to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. 

Workers are pushing for less overwhelming work quotas, higher wages and more COVID-19 protections.

Bezos testified in front of Congress for the first time last summer in a hearing focused on monopolies in digital markets.

Updated 4:33 p.m.