(New York) The New York state attorney filed for an injunction on Tuesday requiring Amazon to take additional sanitary measures to protect warehouse workers as business is in full swing ahead of the holidays and where the Omicron variant is gaining momentum.
The e-commerce giant “acts as if the pandemic is over” even as the risks of transmission start to rise again, Letitia James says in a case filed with the Supreme Court of the State of New York.
She therefore asks for the appointment of an independent controller overseeing the implementation of new sanitary measures in this warehouse which accommodates more than 5,000 employees in Staten Island, a district of New York City.
Mme In particular, James would like Amazon to change its productivity monitoring tools so that employees have enough time to clean, sanitize, and stay away from coworkers.
It also calls for greater clean-up measures when cases of COVID-19 infections are detected as well as the establishment of adequate tracing protocols.
“Amazon must ensure a work environment that promotes safety, transparency and respect for its hard-working employees, and not an environment that puts them more at risk,” said the prosecutor in a statement.
Asked by AFP, an Amazon spokesperson said it was “disappointing” that prosecutor James “is trying to politicize the pandemic”.
“Every day, we work hard for our teams,” she said, referring to the group’s “comprehensive approach” to deal with the coronavirus “from the start of the pandemic”, with employee protection measures which cost more than $ 15 billion, according to the same source.
Letitia James has already filed a complaint in February against the group, accusing it of not having sufficiently protected its New York employees since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and of having taken retaliatory measures against several employees. complaining about working conditions.
Amazon is one of the big winners of the health crisis, its sales having jumped in favor of lockdowns and travel restrictions around the world. The firm has been hiring hard since September to meet consumer demand as the holidays approach.