Due to the recent pandemic, Amazon has become a service that people are relying on even more than they were before. With most physical stores closing their doors to wait out the storm, Amazon’s offer of a one-click order and delivery service has been a lifeline for essential goods for a lot of people who are under stay-at-home orders.
In order to take advantage of their competitors being unable to operate at full capacity at this moment in time, and to be able to meet the demands of their increasing customer base, Amazon’s warehouses have stayed open and fully-fuctioning. To keep their “hero” employees safe, the company has provided their employees with protective equipment and raise pay by $2 an hour. They also require all employees to have their temperature checked at the start of their shift.
But some Amazon employee’s have criticized that these actions the company has taken are too late, with factory workers working in unsafe conditions for several weeks before Amazon implemented these measures. Employees have also complained that the process to see if an employee qualifies for the raise is unnecessarily confusing and difficult to navigate.
Three of these employees who voiced their criticism have unfortunately been fired by Amazon. The company states that it supports employees’ right to criticize their employer and that these 3 employees’ positions were terminated for different reasons despite these employees working at Amazon for more than 2 decades combined. However, Bashir Mohamed, Emily Cunningham, and Christian Smalls all believe they were fired for their activists roles.
“I truly believe Amazon can play an incredibly powerful and good role during COVID-19,” said Cunningham in a statement to Vox. “But to do that, we have to really listen to the workers who are on the front line, who don’t feel adequately protected. Who fear getting coronavirus, or giving it to their families and the wider public.”
What do you guys think? Is Amazon going above and beyond for their employees? Or is the company doing just enough to make sure they look good for press?
