Amazon Worker Correspondent
A Pick worker sustained a head injury on September 17 at our warehouse MQY1 in Mount Juliet, TN after a seven-pound box fell on her head from one of the highest bins while she was grabbing items close to the floor.
Another worker noticed that she couldn’t breathe and told management to call an ambulance. It is unclear whether Amazon sent updates regarding the incident.
The injury comes as Amazon neglects its own policy of job rotation, which it claims prevents injuries. Management says we can work in the same department for around 2-3 shifts in a week if it’s not your main department path. If you’re cross-trained across multiple departments, you would work in one department for one out of three periods during your shift (before lunch, after lunch, and after second break). Many of us get sent to departments like Pick for six hours of a ten-hour shift even if it’s not our main department path. Some workers in Ship Dock have been sent to Direct Loader most of their shift, walking constantly and pulling carts filled with packages into trailers.
Repetitive motions under high production goals increase the risk of workplace injuries. We’ve seen the serious consequences workers face when they are denied job rotation. Earlier this year, another Pick worker miscarried because she was not allowed to go to a less intensive department. We’re tired of getting treated like robots.
Amazon has a record of mishandling workplace injuries due to strict Unpaid Time Off (UPT) and point system policies, punishing workers for taking the time they need to recover or seek medical care. Non-Flex schedule warehouse workers have lost UPT for medical appointments while Flex schedule warehouse workers have gotten points added against them because Amazon did not file their doctors’ notes properly. Some workers have paid medical expenses out-of-pocket because their injury cases got closed without any notice. Some have also started GoFundMe pages to cover medical costs.
As Amazon’s holiday Peak Season approaches, the monopoly will push for work speed-ups while ignoring the injuries it causes. Until workers organize and fight for safer conditions, we will continue paying the price with our bodies.
We are looking for worker correspondents: cashiers, drivers, nurses, construction workers, cleaners, warehouse staff—anyone who wants to report on what’s really happening at work. Share a story, a tip, a victory, or a fightback. We’ll help you turn it into an article. Contact us at theworkerpaper@proton.me.
Image: An Amazon facility. Credit: The Worker.
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