U.S. Senators Call For Probe Of Amazon’s Approach To Pregnant Workers

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A worker walks out of an Amazon warehouse in North Las Vegas on March 31.

John Locher/AP

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John Locher/AP

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California Bill Passes, Giving Amazon Warehouse Workers Power To Fight Speed Quotas

Amazon representatives did not immediately respond to the letter, released on Friday.

Working conditions at Amazon’s warehouses, which are mushrooming across the U.S., have recently attracted increased scrutiny. Amazon is now the country’s second-largest private employer behind Walmart, with over 950,000 workers, most of whom staff warehouses.

Advocates have particularly focused on the speed quotas required of workers at Amazon warehouses. Critics say the pace can be unhealthy and unsustainable, forcing workers to skip bathroom breaks and skirt safety measures.

On Wednesday, California lawmakers passed a first-of-its-kind legislation that could give warehouse workers new power to fight these quotas. It would also lead to more public disclosure of specific speed demands Amazon makes of its warehouse staff and their impact on the workers’ health.

Investigations by news organizations and by the labor-backed Strategic Organizing Center have found that the rate of serious injuries at Amazon warehouses has been nearly double the industry average.

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Founder Jeff Bezos said in a letter to shareholders in April that Amazon has hired 6,200 safety professionals and pledged $300 million to work safety projects in 2021.

«We don’t set unreasonable performance goals,» he wrote. «We set achievable performance goals that take into account tenure and actual employee performance data.»

Speed quotas and the company’s vast, automated productivity monitoring were among the key concerns of workers who pushed to unionize Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Ala. — a high-profile effort to form Amazon’s first unionized U.S. warehouse that failed in an overwhelming vote against it.

However, Bessemer workers may get a do-over because a federal labor official has found Amazon’s anti-union tactics tainted the original vote sufficiently enough to scrap its results. A regional director of the National Labor Relations Board is expected to rule in the coming weeks on whether — or when — a re-vote should take place.

Editor’s note: Amazon is among NPR’s financial supporters.

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