Here is the key point Amazon claims he was exposed to the worker on March 11th. Over the weekened he said he is organizing a strike, so over the weekend they order him and only him into quarantine. A full 18 days after his 5 min exposure. From my reading of it, this almost certainly looks like retaliatory action due to the strike, and a company using the excuse of quarantine to cover it up.<p>Key excerpts from a much clearer article. And yet again, why you never 100% believe a company's PR response when they're trying to cover themselves. They tell just enough truth, but use it to intentionally mislead.<p><a href="https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/31/amazon-strike-worker-fired-organizing-walkout-chris-smallls" rel="nofollow">https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2020/mar/31/amazon-strik...</a><p>> <i>According to the company’s previous statements, the infected co-worker in question last reported for work on 11 March. Had Smalls been exposed that day, a 14-day mandatory quarantine would have made him eligible to return as soon as 25 March.</i><p>> Smalls said Amazon did not send him home until <i>28 March, three weeks after the exposure.</i><p>> “No one else was put on quarantine,” he said, even as the infected person worked alongside “associates for 10-plus hours a week”.<p>> “You put me on quarantine for coming into contact with somebody, but I was around [that person] for less than five minutes,” he told Vice.<p>> According to Amazon, no one else was fired. Smalls said he was considering legal action, calling it “a no-brainer”.
Tech companies in general and Amazon specifically seem scared to death of unionization. I think Amazon's actions in this matter are going to backfire tremendously.
Devils advocate: if you're sent home on full pay and told not to come in, and you come in, that's fireable (doubly so with coronavirus happening). If you do that, you need some strong evidence that it's retaliation. You have away the benefit of the doubt...
Is the newsworthy claim that this firing was illegally retaliatory?<p>In other words, is the claim that Chris Smalls was being vocal in reporting safety/health issues and was illegally fired as a result?
This is a union busting, anti-labor and retaliatory firing. It is illegal in the United States.<p>Multiple employees have spoken out about the working conditions at Amazon's warehouse facilities over the last couple of weeks. Common complaints include a lack of protective equipment, sanitization, health monitoring, and working "shoulder to shoulder". Workers are getting sick, and Amazon isn't properly reporting the actual cases of COVID-19 at their facilities.<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/26/amazon-warehouse-employees-grapple-with-coronavirus-risks.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/26/amazon-warehouse-employees-g...</a><p>Source: <a href="https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/whole-foods-amazon-instacart-workers-to-strike-over-safety-concerns/ar-BB11VwT1" rel="nofollow">https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/companies/whole-foods-amazon...</a><p>Source: <a href="https://www.thedailybeast.com/whole-foods-workers-to-strike-after-amazon-instacart-employees-walk-out" rel="nofollow">https://www.thedailybeast.com/whole-foods-workers-to-strike-...</a><p>Mr. Smalls announced ahead of time that he was going to lead a general strike at his facility in solidarity with the instacart and wholefoods strike on the same day. This was reported in the media. Amazon knew this was being organized and waited to fire the worker until after the planned protest strike occurred.<p>Source: <a href="https://apnews.com/cf27e9bec86d846447aad7e632484bea" rel="nofollow">https://apnews.com/cf27e9bec86d846447aad7e632484bea</a><p>Here is Mr. Smalls talking about this in detail: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/03/30/staten-island-whole-foods-workers-walk-out-over-coronavirus-concerns.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnbc.com/video/2020/03/30/staten-island-whole-fo...</a> - All he was asking for was for the building to be sanitized after a confirmed case of COVID-19 occurred at his facility, at Staten Island near the epicenter of the pandemic in the United States in New York.<p>The attorney general of New York recognized this issue for what it is.<p>---<p>New York Attorney General Letitia James said late Monday evening that "it is disgraceful that Amazon would terminate an employee who bravely stood up to protect himself and his colleagues."<p>"At the height of a global pandemic, Chris Smalls and his colleagues publicly protested the lack of precautions that Amazon was taking to protect them from COVID-19," she said. "Today, Chris Smalls was fired. In New York, the right to organize is codified into law, and any retaliatory action by management related thereto is strictly prohibited."<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/tech/amazon-worker-fired-staten-island-warehouse/index.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnn.com/2020/03/30/tech/amazon-worker-fired-stat...</a><p>---<p>Here is another article discussing the actual conditions of Mr. Smalls Facility:<p>---<p>Despite Amazon’s efforts, Amazon employees at multiple facilities who spoke to CNBC argue that the measures aren’t enough to keep them safe. They say uneven safety precautions at facilities across the country have sown feelings of distrust between workers and their managers. Workers say they’ve become worried that managers aren’t being honest about whether employees are sick with the virus, so that they can keep the facilities open.<p>At some facilities, workers say essential supplies like hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes are rationed or there’s none available, putting them at risk of catching the virus. Warehouse workers say they’re forced to choose between going to work and risking their health or staying home and not being able to pay their bills.<p>Source: <a href="https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/30/amazon-fires-staten-island-coronavirus-strike-leader-chris-smalls.html" rel="nofollow">https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/30/amazon-fires-staten-island-c...</a><p>---<p>Amazon is in the wrong here. They retaliated against Mr. Smalls. This was a labor movement action, and they illegally fired Mr. Smalls for organizing at this facility.<p>These workers aren't asking for more money. They are asking for safe and sanitary working conditions. Are they not entitled to a healthy working environment?<p>Edit: Formatting issues. This was a copy-paste from a comment I made on a /r/business thread on reddit. Formatting on HN is a bit different. :)
Is there a company out there that does full time employment, with benefits, and pays their taxes (no dutch sandwhich/offshoring) in the same space as Amazon? That is, an online megastore, not worrying about AWS/cloud.<p>I think there's more than a few of us who are ready to vote with their dollars.
I've been personally boycotting Amazon for years, and very happy with that decision. There are so many stories like this which are more or less egregious.
Amazon being Amazon.<p><a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQeGBHxIyHw" rel="nofollow">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQeGBHxIyHw</a>
IANAL, but would be interested to know if it would've BENEFITED their case if they met with a lawyer BEFORE putting their plans into action. It seems this would've been a pretty legitimate way of confirming their intention, and would've put Amazon in a much more compromising position after the fact.
Would it be illegal for Amazon’s competitors to extend job offers to those who are at risk of being fired for going on strike? (If the fear is being fired as retaliation)
SARS-cov-2 survives days on cardboard.<p>If you can’t give two f<i>cks for the workers, do it for tour own consumers’ ass.<p>Amazon must enforce sanitary and safe working conditions during the COVID19 epidemic lest it becomes itself a source of contagion. More so now that home delivery is so important in the “stay home” strategy.<p>For f</i>cks sake people, how big a stick do you need before you notice?!
The worker was exposed to covid-19, was told to quarantine, and came back on site anyway.<p>This strikes me as an egregious safety violation and a truly excellent reason to fire the worker.
> Like all businesses grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we are working hard to keep employees safe while serving communities and the most vulnerable<p>Because people who can afford Amazon prime and prices are the most vulnerable
> Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came on site today, March 30, further putting the teams at risk<p>The employee was exposed to another employee who tested positive for covid-19. They asked him to stay home with pay for 14 days and he came back to the building to protest, putting other employees at risk.