Amazon Teamsters, Labor Groups Back Legislators’ New Warehouse Safety Bill
Two senators want tough warehouse conditions to stop wearing on workers throughout the U.S.
Senator Ed Markey (D-MA) and Senator Tina Smith (D-MN) introduced new legislation to the Senate Thursday to help provide protections to warehouse workers.
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The bill, called the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, aims to put safeguards in place for these workers. It includes stipulations for quota transparency requirements and bans on quotas that impact workers’ ability to use the restroom or take meal breaks.
Already, states like New York, California, Oregon and Washington have passed laws stipulating that employers must disclose quotas to workers and ensuring any quotas do not prevent employees from taking allotted breaks. Several other states have proposed similar legislation, but Markey and Smith’s proposal marks the start of what could result in federal movement on quota issues.
Keith Williams, an Amazon warehouse worker at SWF1 in Rock Tavern, New York, said protections like those could have prevented health issues he sustained in the workplace.
“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 Williams. “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.”
Ronald Sewell, an Amazon associate at ATL6 in Georgia and a United for Respect (UFR) leader, said the bill represents a major step forward for warehouse workers seeking protections in the workplace.
“My coworkers and I are constantly putting our safety at risk to meet Amazon’s backbreaking productivity quotas, and we’ve had enough. Our lives are not expendable—we need real change to improve safety on the job, and this bill will help make that a reality,” Sewell said in a statement.
Markey and Smith’s proposed legislation would go beyond altering the type of quotas that can be required of employees. It also seeks to bolster communication with workers about expectation and performance.
If workers’ quotas are slated to change, employers must give at least two days’ worth of notice to employees subject to those quotas. The bill also takes aim at data about workers’ performance, ensuring that the data cannot be circulated unless necessary and allowing workers to request copies of the data collected on them. And, in the case that management believes a worker needs to be disciplined, they must share a written description and analysis of performance prior to quota-related discipline.
Markey said unrealistic quotas, currently not prohibited by federal law, result in unnecessary injuries and distress in warehouses across the country.
Though Amazon Teamsters were at the forefront of a Wednesday press conference, Markey also called retail giant Walmart into question.
“Don’t go thinking that this is only an Amazon problem. Amazon may be at the front of the pack, with an injury rate double the national average, but the rest of the big warehousing companies are close behind,” Markey said at a press conference. “These companies are extracting maximum profits from warehouse workers, and they’re sucking every ounce of dignity out of the work along with it. Instead of chief executive officers, CEOs should be called chief extraction officers [for] extracting the life out of their workers.”
Despite Teamsters, UFR and other labor organizations expressing their support for and excitement around the bill, trade groups have shown hesitation about it.
David French, executive vice president of government relations for the National Retail Federation (NRF) said Thursday that the group “strongly opposes” the bill.
“Data from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) have consistently shown that warehouse workplaces are safe workplaces. NRF member companies are continually investing in better practices, more modern equipment and innovative employee engagement efforts to make these workspaces as safe as possible,” French said in a statement. “Despite that, this legislation would overturn decades of employment and labor law, erode employers’ private property rights and unjustifiably expand the federal government’s intrusion into American workplaces.”
The National Association of Wholesaler-Distributors (NAW) also “strongly opposes” the pending legislation, said Brian Wild, NAW’s chief government relations officer.
“This bill represents a costly and unnecessary threat to the U.S. economy, especially for wholesaler-distributors and small businesses. The bill’s quota requirements will negatively affect productivity across the supply chain, leading to delays and price hikes for consumers,” Wild said in a statement.
The NRF and the NAW also share concerns over a piece of the bill that would require the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) to put forth an ergonomics standard. In 2001, Congress disapproved a Department of Labor (DOL) rule on ergonomics.
French said that “there is no new rationale for undoing Congress’ prohibition,” and Wild echoed that same sentiment.
Markey said he anticipated opposition would come readily—and that he and the backers of the legislation will see the process through for the sake of workers and their families.
“We won’t be able to pass this without a fight. Greedy CEOs will say anything they need to guarantee that they can treat people like commodities, working them to injury and then discarding them,” he said Thursday. “We’re taking back the rights of warehouse workers… and we will not rest until warehouse worker safety, dignity and organizing is protected by law.”