Fifteen Queens lawmakers say they’re ‘watching’ Amazon warehouse working conditions
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Assemblymember Nily Rozic joined 14 others Queens lawmakers on a letter to Amazon demanding the online retail and data giant improve conditions for warehouse workers. Photo courtesy of Rozic.
By David Brand
As Amazon looks to build a new warehouse in Woodside, 15 Queens lawmakers have signed onto a letter calling for the online retail and data giant to improve conditions for workers at its high-paced distribution facilities.
A report by the Center for Investigative Reporting and The Atlantic found that the injury rate at Amazon warehouses is more than double the national warehouse industry average. Workers at a Staten Island Amazon warehouse — the company calls it a “fulfillment center” — demonstrated against the conditions last month.
A total of 42 elected officials from across the city, including Comptroller Scott Stringer and Council Speaker Corey Johnson, said they wrote “in support of those workers’ clear right to speak up about dangers at their job, and any terms of their employment that they think need to change.”
“We will be watching to be sure that Amazon management responds supportively to address and remedy the workers’ concerns,” they continued. “And we assure you that we will not tolerate any retaliation or adverse action of any sort against these courageous workers for speaking up.”
The Queens signatories include both supporters and opponents of Amazon’s high-profile plan to build a corporate campus in Long Island City — a project the company abandoned amid intense local opposition.
Queens State Sens. Michael Gianaris, Jessica Ramos and James Sanders; Assemblymembers Aravella Simotas, Nily Rozic, Catalina Cruz and Ron Kim; and Councilmembers I. Daneek Miller, Karen Koslowitz, Barry Grodenchik, Rory Lancman, Francisco Moya, Donovan Richards, Jimmy Van Bramer and Antonio Reynoso each added their names to the letter.
“We will be watching to be sure that Amazon management responds supportively to address and remedy the workers’ concerns,” the lawmakers wrote. “And we assure you that we will not tolerate any retaliation or adverse action of any sort against these courageous workers for speaking up.”
Rozic said she signed the letter because businesses operating in New York “must provide workplace protections.”
“Coercing workers into silence and evading accountability will not be tolerated,” In Queens, we will keep standing in solidarity with workers who courageously demand basic rights afforded under the law."
Councilmember Costa Constantinides did not sign the letter, but a spokesperson told the Eagle that he was concerned about worker protections in its warehouses.
“Amazon is already showing it’s a bad neighbor by reportedly subjecting hard-working women and men to poor conditions, while flooding our already dangerous streets with blue vans that flaunt traffic laws,” the spokesperson said, adding that Constantinides “remains committed to holding this mega corporation accountable, especially when it comes to standing in the way of workers’ ability to organize.”
Amazon has faced renewed scrutiny as it reaches deeper into the lives of New Yorkers, and people throughout the country, via its vast data repository, internet systems technology and foundational online marketplace. Workers rights’ advocates say the packing and moving quotas inside the warehouses lead to high rates of injuries, in jobs that pay relatively small amounts compared to the wages earned by factory workers in recent decades.
David Michaels, the former federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration Director, told The Atlantic, that Amazon’s injury reports demonstrate that “the risk of work injuries at fulfillment centers is alarmingly, unacceptably high.”
Amazon spokesperson Rachael Lighty said the company provides “a safe, quality work environment in which associates are the heart and soul of our operations.”
“Please come tour our building, see it for yourself and experience our culture of safety firsthand versus listening to the self-interested critics who claim falsely that it’s unsafe,” Lighty continued. “You’d join more than 280,000 people who this year alone already took tours to see our innovative workplace and focus on safety.”
