Dozens of US warehouse Amazon employees contract coronavirus, report says, as Amnesty brand staff treatment 'repugnant'

Hundreds of Amazon staff have walked out this week over coronavirus safety concerns

(AFP via Getty Images)

More than 30 employees at an Amazon warehouse in New Jersey have contracted the coronavirus, according to a report by Business Insider.

Amazon declined to confirm the number of affected staff members, but the report cited an employee of the warehouse as saying more than 30 people had tested positive.

Rachael Lighty, a spokesperson for Amazon, said: “We are supporting the individuals who are recovering. We are following guidelines from health officials and medical experts, and are taking extreme measures to ensure the safety of employees at our site."

Business Insider reported that employees had been informed of “additional confirmed cases of COVID-19" on Wednesday.

There is no evidence that the employees contracted the virus at work, or that Amazon's working practices were to blame for the infections.​

The alleged outbreak comes amid mounting criticism of the online retail giant over its safety practices for workers during the coronavirus pandemic.

Hundreds of Amazon workers across the country have taken part in protests and walkouts this week to call over what they say is a lack of proper protection.

On Friday, Amnesty International called on the company, and its owner Jeff Bezos, to “address the legitimate and vital concerns raised by Amazon staff”.

“Amazon is one of the world’s wealthiest companies and its profits are surging as a result of this crisis. It is repugnant that the company’s workforce feel their safety is not being taken seriously,” said Joe Westby, Technology and Human Rights researcher at the rights group.

“With reports of new COVID-19 cases emerging at warehouses in Indiana and New Jersey, employees face an impossible choice of potentially putting their health at serious risk by going to work, or having to leave the company,” he added.

Amnesty also hit out at the company’s treatment of staff who have spoken out about those same safety concerns. It has fired at least three employees and suspended a fourth this month after they criticised working conditions.

Christian Smalls, an employee at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse, was fired after he led a walkout of staff to raise safety concerns. The company said he was let go for “putting the health and safety of others at risk and violations of his terms of his employment” and “violating social distancing guidelines” when he continued to come into work. But Mr Smalls suspects otherwise.

Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, both tech workers based in the company’s Seattle headquarters, were fired after tweeting criticism of working conditions for warehouse workers, according to the Washington Post. Amazon said that it supports “every employee’s right to criticise their employer’s working conditions, but that does not come with blanket immunity against any and all internal policies.”

Bashir Mohamed, a warehouse employee from Minnesota who had been advocating for changes to working conditions to protect against the coronavirus, was also fired. Amazon said he had used “inappropriate language” and violated social-distancing guidelines.

Amnesty called the allegations that staff had been fired for speaking out “deeply disturbing.”

“No Amazon worker should face reprisals for speaking out about safety concerns. Amazon must ensure that workers can report concerns about health and safety risks without fear of retaliation,” said Mr Westby.

Amazon has flatly denied that the staff members were fired for raising concerns about safety.

Responding to the report of coronavirus cases at the Carteret facility in New Jersey, Ms Lighty, the Amazon spokesperson, said: “We continue to explore even more preventative measures to support the health and safety of employees, who are providing a critical service in our communities.”

She added: “In early April we began disinfectant fogging at our Carteret facility, a practice commonly used by hospitals and airlines, to supplement the enhanced cleaning measures that are already in place. This is in addition to mandatory social distancing, temperature checks, and masks for everyone to use from arrival through shift departure, as we remain committed to keeping our teams healthy and safe.”