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The Home Committee on Oversight and Reform has opened an investigation into Amazon’s labor practices throughout extreme climate occasions, based on a letter members despatched to Andy Jassy, Amazon’s chief govt.“We’re involved by latest reviews that Amazon could also be placing the well being and security of its employees in danger, together with by requiring them to work in harmful situations throughout tornadoes, hurricanes and different excessive climate,” mentioned the letter, signed by the committee chairwoman, Consultant Carolyn B. Maloney of New York, in addition to Representatives Cori Bush of Missouri and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York. All are Democrats.The investigation will concentrate on the December twister that hit Amazon’s supply station in Edwardsville, Sick., killing six folks. Most individuals on the facility weren’t Amazon’s direct workers. They have been subcontracted supply drivers, a complication that impeded the response when the authorities couldn’t readily decide how many individuals have been on web site. The ability didn’t have a twister protected room, which was not required by constructing code.A minimum of one subcontracted driver was instructed to maintain delivering in the course of the storm, based on textual content messages Bloomberg Information printed. Amazon mentioned the subcontractor’s dispatcher had not adopted its security protocols.“Our focus continues to be on supporting our workers and companions, the households who misplaced family members, the encircling neighborhood and all these affected by the tornadoes,” Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokeswoman, mentioned in a press release on Friday. “We are going to reply to this letter sooner or later.”Amazon’s labor practices have come underneath rising scrutiny because it has grown to change into the nation’s second-largest non-public employer, after Walmart. The corporate employs 1.1 million employees instantly in the US, plus many extra by contractors.The letter requested Amazon for paperwork and communications associated to the way it managed its work power throughout a number of pure disasters, together with fires in California, a warmth wave within the Pacific Northwest and Hurricane Irma in Florida.“This investigation will inform legislative efforts to curb unfair labor practices, strengthen protections for employees and deal with the consequences of local weather change on employee security,” it mentioned.
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