Press Releases

Senate Report: Amazon Knowingly Misleads About Warehouse Worker Safety

Washington, DC — On Sunday, Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee Chair Bernie Sanders (I-VT) published an exhaustive report showing that Amazon executives knowingly push high product quotas on warehouse workers that lead to higher injury rates. The findings of the report, based on a thorough investigation that spanned 18 months and reflected in part the stories of nearly 500 workers, contradict Amazon executives, who have publicly claimed that they don’t use strict quotas and don’t have high injury rates.

The following is a statement from Emily Peterson-Cassin, Director of Corporate Power at Demand Progress Education Fund:

“This damning Senate report proves that Amazon executives are knowingly prioritizing profits over the safety of their workers. Amazon warehouses are uniquely dangerous places where workers are surveilled and coerced into following grueling quotas that lead to injury rates that are nearly twice as high as the industry average. The Senate report shows that Amazon executives know all this but refuse to adopt safety recommendations in the company’s own internal studies—while also firing injured workers who were on approved medical leave.

We thank Sen. Sanders and the Senate HELP Committee for conducting this important report and we call on Congress to step in and hold Amazon executives accountable for knowingly endangering their workers.”