Bernie Sanders is launching a Senate investigation into Amazon over their treatment of workers.
As the chairman of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, Sanders said Tuesday that the Senate will look into the labor conditions at Amazon warehouses, where workers have reported collapsing from heat exhaustion and being denied bathroom breaks. The Senate will also investigate Amazon's treatment of workers who have been 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 wrote in a letter to Amazon executives, first obtained by The Washington Post.
The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) has cited Amazon over a dozen times for safety violations at its facilities. The organization fined the company three times in January during an ongoing warehouse safety investigation.
Sanders described Amazon’s warehouse conditions as “uniquely dangerous.” He noted that federal data reveals Amazon’s serious-injury rate was double the warehouse industry average in 2021.
“Amazon is one of the most valuable companies in the world, worth $1.3 trillion and its founder, Jeff Bezos, is one of the richest men in the world worth nearly $150 billion,” Sanders continued. “Amazon should be one of the safest places in America to work, not one of the most dangerous.”
While Amazon claims to have implemented some new safety measures, the company also invested a whopping $14.2 million into anti-union efforts. Sanders told The Post that while he is "appreciative" of the new measures taken by Amazon, he is “extremely upset by their vehement anti-union behavior”
“Amazon sets an example for the rest of the country,” Sanders said. “What Amazon does, their attitude, their lack of respect for workers permeates the American corporate world.”
