Amazon Really Doesn’t Want to Reveal Its COVID-19 Protection Measures for Workers

Federal investigators have seen a spike in complaints by Amazon workers about the company's COVID-19 protections. So Amazon is asking the Biden administration to help quash an initiative demanding public disclosure of what Amazon has — and has not — done to protect those workers during the pandemic.

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An Amazon delivery driver carries boxes into a van outside of a distribution facility in Hawthorne, California, 2021. (Patrick T. Fallon / AFP via Getty Images)


As Amazon tries to beat back a union drive and silence critics of its labor practices, the retail behemoth is now asking the Biden administration to help quash a shareholder initiative demanding the company publicly disclose what it has done to protect its workers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The company’s request comes as federal investigators have seen a spike in complaints by Amazon workers during the pandemic.

Amazon, whose founder Jeff Bezos is worth an estimated $181 billion, has led an intense campaign to dissuade its workers in Bessemer, Alabama from forming the first-ever union at one of the company’s warehouses. The company has lashed out at progressive lawmakers supporting the union drive, reportedly at the direction of Bezos, moves that have only prompted more reporting about Amazon’s awful labor practices.

The company has consistently faced scrutiny over how it has responded to COVID. In February, New York’s attorney general filed a lawsuit arguing that, since the start of the pandemic, “Amazon has failed and continues to fail to provide reasonable and adequate protection to the lives, health, and safety of its employees.” The lawsuit says the company illegally retaliated against workers raising concerns about their safety. Amazon responded by suing the attorney general in an attempt to block the case.

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