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Article

1 May 2020

Author:
Russell Brandom, The Verge

Thousands of Amazon workers join May Day work stoppages to call for improved protections against COVID-19; Incl. company comments

"Workers from Amazon, Instacart, and others are calling in sick to protest poor virus protections", 1 May 2020

On May 1st, workers from Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, FedEx, Target, and Walmart joined together in a series of work stoppages to protest conditions and equipment in the face of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The actions have been organized by a range of groups within the various companies, but are timed to coincide with International Workers’ Day....Organizers at Amazon said thousands of employees are participating in the actions nationwide... 

The groups are calling for better practices and equipment to protect frontline workers from contracting the disease at work... Amazon delivery service partners are asking for professional cleaners to sanitize vehicles at the end of each shift. Currently, drivers are provided with cleaning supplies and asked to sanitize the vehicles themselves.

Amazon has refused to disclose the number of employees who have tested positive for COVID-19, communicating only individual cases to the employees affected...

Amazon disputed organizers’ claims that employees lacked the necessary resources to work safely, pointing to increase in paid time off and workplace PPE. “Masks, temperature checks, hand sanitizer, increased time off, increased pay, and more are standard across our Amazon and Whole Food Market networks already,”...

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