Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT) urged current and former Amazon workers to come forward as whistleblowers as he launched an investigation on Tuesday into longtime concerns from labor activists and employees over warehouse conditions.
Sanders will lead the investigation of the nation’s second-largest employer in his capacity as chairman of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions Committee, a role he took on in January. He announced the investigation into the company’s labor practices, which have been under scrutiny from the Biden administration over safety concerns at warehouses, in a 10-page letter to Amazon Chief Executive Andy Jassy.
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“The company’s quest for profits at all costs has led to unsafe physical environments, intense pressure to work at unsustainable rates, and inadequate medical attention for tens of thousands of Amazon workers every year,” Sanders wrote in the letter to Jassy. “Amazon is one of the most valuable companies in the world worth $1.3 trillion and its founder, Jeff Bezos, is one of the richest men in the world worth nearly $150 billion. Amazon should be one of the safest places in America to work, not one of the most dangerous.”
“The time has come for Amazon to stop willfully violating workplace safety laws with impunity and commit to changing its operations to protect the health and safety of its workers,” he continued.
The HELP Committee also launched a website to assist whistleblowers to get in contact with Sanders’s team.
“Chairman Sanders wants to hear from current or former workers, supervisors, medical staff, or anyone else in Amazon’s warehouses about their experiences to help inform that investigation,” a statement on the site reads.
Amazon spokesman Steve Kelly told the Washington Examiner in a statement that “we’ve reviewed the letter and strongly disagree with Sen. Sanders’ assertions.”
“We take the safety and health of our employees very seriously. There will always be ways to improve, but we’re proud of the progress we’ve made which includes a 23% reduction in recordable injuries across our U.S. operations since 2019,” Kelly added. “We’ve invested more than $1 billion into safety initiatives, projects, and programs in the last four years, and we’ll continue investing and inventing in this area because nothing is more important than our employees’ safety.”
Kelly also noted that Sanders has an open invitation to tour some of the company’s facilities.
Asked in an interview Tuesday with the Washington Post, which is owned by Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, if he would call on Jaffy or Bezos to testify, Sanders replied: “That’s an absolute possibility.”
In March, Sanders’s HELP Committee targeted former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz, who testified under threat of subpoena regarding accusations of union-busting at stores that had begun organizing.
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“Over the past 18 months, Starbucks has waged the most aggressive and illegal union-busting campaign in the modern history of our country,” Sanders said at the hearing.
Both Schultz and the company have denied the accusations.
