Warehouse Worker Protection Act Would Rein
in Dangerous Warehouse Quotas
WASHINGTON, May 2, 2024
/PRNewswire/ -- Teamsters leaders and Amazon workers joined with
Senators Ed Markey (D-MA) and
Tina Smith (D-MN) today to announce
the introduction of legislation in the U.S. Senate that would hold
Amazon accountable for its dangerous safety practices and abusive
production quotas. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act is sponsored
by Senator Markey, Senator Smith, and Senator Bob Casey (D-PA); a bipartisan House version of
the bill will also be introduced in the coming weeks.
The Warehouse Worker Protection Act would safeguard workers from
the most extreme quotas used by companies like Amazon. It would
require large warehouse employers to disclose quotas to workers and
prevent those quotas from interfering with workers' health and
safety, such as rest and bathroom breaks. Companies would no longer
be able to discipline warehouse workers based solely on their work
speed relative to other employees. It would also direct the
Department of Labor to create new rules requiring safe warehouse
design and ensuring injured workers have access to qualified
outside doctors.
By forcing its workers to comply with arbitrary and unrealistic
production quotas, Amazon has caused on-the-job injury rates to
skyrocket and turned what should be middle-class careers into
dangerous jobs with high turnover and low wages. Injury rates at
Amazon facilities are 76 percent higher than the rest of the
warehouse industry. The Occupational Safety and Health
Administration has repeatedly cited Amazon for dangerous warehouse
practices in recent years.
Amazon workers are organizing with the Teamsters Union to demand
industry standards that put workers' lives and safety ahead of
corporate profits. Today's federal introduction follows years of
action by the Teamsters to advance the Warehouse Worker Protection
Act in state legislatures. It is now law in California, New
York, Oregon, Washington, and Minnesota, and has been introduced in more
than a dozen other states.
"Amazon and other abusive warehouse employers are squeezing
their workers for every penny of profit, leaving behind tired and
broken bodies," said Teamsters General President Sean M. O'Brien. "These corporate criminals are
destroying good jobs in an industry that once supported a strong
middle class. But one thing stands in their way—that's the
Teamsters Union, along with lawmakers who understand what's at
stake. It's time to pass the Warehouse Worker Protection Act and
put workers' safety over corporate profits."
"You don't have to choose between running a profitable business
and treating your workers with respect," said Teamsters Warehouse
Division Director Tom Erickson.
"Production speeds at Teamsters-represented warehouses are safe,
transparent, and negotiated in a contract. We need to pass the
Warehouse Worker Protection Act so all warehouses in this country
will be held to the same high standard."
"I've suffered two serious injuries in my year working at Amazon
and they could have been prevented if this common-sense law were in
place," said Keith Williams, an
Amazon warehouse worker at SWF1 in Rock
Tavern, New York. "Amazon uses quotas to push us to work
faster than is safe and if you can't keep up, you're fired. My
co-workers and I are organizing with the support of the Teamsters
to secure the safe jobs and fair pay that all workers deserve."
Founded in 1903, the International Brotherhood of Teamsters
represents 1.3 million hardworking people in the U.S., Canada, and Puerto
Rico. Visit Teamster.org for more information.
Follow us on Twitter @Teamsters and "like" us on Facebook
at Facebook.com/teamsters.
Contact:
Alex
Moore, (503) 886-9738
amoore@teamster.org
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SOURCE International Brotherhood of Teamsters