WEBVTT - 03: Amazon’s Dangerous Working Conditions 0:00:01.200 --> 0:00:05.760 I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon 0:00:05.880 --> 0:00:10.880 customer because you guys paid progress. You guys paid problems. 0:00:12.600 --> 0:00:16.599 This is megaco, an investigative podcast exposing some of the 0:00:16.600 --> 0:00:23.120 world's most unethical corporations. This series is about Amazon. I'm 0:00:23.200 --> 0:00:30.200 Jake Hanrahan, journalists and documentary filmmaker. Mega Corp is produced 0:00:30.240 --> 0:00:40.879 by H eleven for cool Zone Media. You remember we 0:00:41.000 --> 0:00:46.000 briefly spoke about the health and safety conditions inside various 0:00:46.040 --> 0:00:50.840 Amazon warehouses. In episode one, we spoke about how people 0:00:50.840 --> 0:00:55.440 were getting injured due to unsafe working environments. Well after 0:00:55.480 --> 0:00:58.400 that aired, I got a message from a contact of 0:00:58.440 --> 0:01:01.960 mine who currently work as an Amazon employee on the 0:01:01.960 --> 0:01:06.400 warehouse floor in a warehouse somewhere in America. Now he 0:01:06.480 --> 0:01:08.400 still works there, so he doesn't want to kind of 0:01:08.400 --> 0:01:12.120 give his identity out, so we would just call him Jim. 0:01:12.160 --> 0:01:15.880 Here's what Jim had to say. Those injury statistics. There's 0:01:15.920 --> 0:01:18.800 just no way that those statistics are accurate, um, even 0:01:18.800 --> 0:01:21.880 though they're really really bad. Because um, one of the 0:01:21.920 --> 0:01:24.600 worst things that can help in at Amazon is for 0:01:24.680 --> 0:01:29.320 you to report an injury. Because if you reported the injury, 0:01:29.680 --> 0:01:32.000 your manager has to fill out a form and then 0:01:32.040 --> 0:01:35.520 you go to the on site or infirmary. Um, and 0:01:35.520 --> 0:01:37.440 then they make you sit down and then they fill 0:01:37.480 --> 0:01:39.839 out of report and then HR is gonna get ahold 0:01:39.840 --> 0:01:42.920 of you, and then it turns into a thing where, um, 0:01:43.240 --> 0:01:47.920 they really don't want a worker's compensation claim. So UM. 0:01:47.920 --> 0:01:50.520 It actually just happened to me today where I was 0:01:50.600 --> 0:01:54.600 limping because I have a really bad blistered foot from 0:01:54.600 --> 0:01:57.480 working on Black Friday, and one of my co workers 0:01:57.960 --> 0:02:01.960 actually told my manager, uh, and it wasn't cool because 0:02:02.080 --> 0:02:04.440 I didn't want I was like, this is how bad 0:02:04.480 --> 0:02:07.600 it is an Amazon where I was upset that Uh. 0:02:08.000 --> 0:02:10.800 My coworkers said that I was hurt because I just 0:02:10.800 --> 0:02:12.480 didn't want to go through the process. And all I 0:02:12.480 --> 0:02:14.320 had to tell my manager was I don't want to 0:02:14.360 --> 0:02:16.800 go to am care, which is that's all you got 0:02:16.880 --> 0:02:19.520 to say. Am Care is the Amazon carrots. It's the 0:02:19.560 --> 0:02:23.920 thing where they started investigating you. Um, and I just 0:02:23.960 --> 0:02:26.520 don't want to go through that at I don't want 0:02:26.520 --> 0:02:28.960 to be sent home, I don't want to have to 0:02:29.000 --> 0:02:32.560 deal with, uh, the investigation. I don't want to be 0:02:32.600 --> 0:02:36.880 harassed by the company. So um, nobody wants to report 0:02:36.919 --> 0:02:42.239 those things and we have a general understanding that things like, oh, 0:02:42.280 --> 0:02:46.040 he wasn't social distancing enough, or he was late to 0:02:46.080 --> 0:02:49.440 work consistently or something like that. They use bullshit excuses 0:02:49.480 --> 0:02:52.200 to fire people for reasons that they don't want to 0:02:52.200 --> 0:02:55.040 get in trouble for, which is why the best thing 0:02:55.600 --> 0:02:58.840 for an Amazon employee is to have nobody talk to you. 0:02:59.840 --> 0:03:03.480 I got hired on my first three four months. I 0:03:03.480 --> 0:03:05.480 didn't talk to a single human being. I signed on 0:03:05.600 --> 0:03:07.880 and I signed into the scanner, and then I just 0:03:07.919 --> 0:03:09.760 followed the algorithm and it told me where to go. 0:03:10.440 --> 0:03:13.400 Uh And that was when I was sucked with the 0:03:13.440 --> 0:03:15.400 least nobody said anything to me by my stotistics or 0:03:15.440 --> 0:03:18.480 anything like that. So, um, it's kind of one of 0:03:18.480 --> 0:03:21.840 those things where if you stand up for yourself or 0:03:21.919 --> 0:03:25.320 if you make your concerns known, they will catch you somehow, 0:03:25.400 --> 0:03:27.800 some way. I think it's really sad there how Jim 0:03:27.800 --> 0:03:31.160 just says they will catch you somehow, some way, as 0:03:31.200 --> 0:03:34.440 if that's a sort of normal thing to be saying. Personally, 0:03:34.480 --> 0:03:37.320 I couldn't imagine working in the sort of environment that 0:03:37.400 --> 0:03:41.040 has employees hiding injuries so that they don't get fired 0:03:41.240 --> 0:03:44.880 or singled out. I've worked in a lot of warehouse jobs, 0:03:44.920 --> 0:03:47.200 before I became a reporter. Before I was a journalist, 0:03:47.440 --> 0:03:50.560 I worked in warehouses. I worked on building sites as 0:03:50.560 --> 0:03:52.680 a laborer. I've done a lot of stuff like that, 0:03:52.760 --> 0:03:55.760 and I've never actually experienced something that bad where it's like, no, 0:03:55.840 --> 0:03:57.960 I better hide this injury because I don't want to 0:03:57.960 --> 0:04:00.960 get in trouble. That's kind of sucked up now. Jim 0:04:01.040 --> 0:04:03.880 is only one guy, but I do trust him. He's 0:04:03.880 --> 0:04:07.200 even sent me images of injuries he's sustained at Amazon. 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:09.400 But I thought, you know what, let's have a look 0:04:09.520 --> 0:04:13.560 at the real environment of health and safety at Amazon 0:04:13.960 --> 0:04:18.240 to see what's really going on here. So just last year, 0:04:18.440 --> 0:04:24.200 in twenty twenty, the UK's GMB trade union obtained figures 0:04:24.240 --> 0:04:28.320 that showed injury rates weren't improving at more than fifty 0:04:28.400 --> 0:04:32.919 of the country's Amazon warehouses. GMB used the Freedom of 0:04:32.960 --> 0:04:36.359 Information Act to obtain the figures that showed the dire 0:04:36.440 --> 0:04:41.800 situation of warehouse safety. In fact, as sited in a 0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:46.159 Guardian article by Rob Davies, in the three years leading 0:04:46.240 --> 0:04:50.120 up to twenty, more than six hundred Amazon workers have 0:04:50.240 --> 0:04:54.960 been seriously injured at UK warehouses. That's an average of 0:04:55.080 --> 0:04:59.760 two hundred plus Amazon workers a year sustaining what's classed 0:05:00.000 --> 0:05:04.880 a serious injury in the workplace in the UK. The 0:05:04.960 --> 0:05:09.279 numbers speak for themselves. The annual total of Amazon ware 0:05:09.320 --> 0:05:12.960 house injuries was one hundred and fifty two in the 0:05:13.040 --> 0:05:17.000 years twenty sixteen to twenties seventeen. It went up to 0:05:17.200 --> 0:05:21.520 two hundred thirty in eighteen, and then up again to 0:05:21.760 --> 0:05:27.160 two hundred and forty in twenty nineteen. Now, there's something 0:05:27.240 --> 0:05:31.320 in this article that further corroborates what Jim told us. 0:05:31.920 --> 0:05:34.800 It talks about how there was an accident at an 0:05:34.800 --> 0:05:40.120 Amazon warehouse in fifteen. Basically, somebody drove a forkliff truck 0:05:40.240 --> 0:05:44.520 backwards into a steel structure in a warehouse, knocking some 0:05:44.600 --> 0:05:48.080 of it down. A report into the incident concluded that 0:05:48.120 --> 0:05:52.560 the driver had had elapsed in concentration due to quote 0:05:52.920 --> 0:05:56.719 long working hours, something we've heard a lot about already 0:05:56.720 --> 0:06:00.159 in this series. Now, the article then goes on to 0:06:00.240 --> 0:06:05.560 say this quote. Internal emails from the Health and Safety 0:06:05.680 --> 0:06:09.520 executive show that the accident was reported by an Amazon 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.880 worker who would not give their name because they were 0:06:12.920 --> 0:06:18.039 worried about getting sacked. End quote. Now, if you're not 0:06:18.080 --> 0:06:24.000 familiar with UK vernacular, getting sacked means getting fired, you 0:06:24.080 --> 0:06:27.720 lose your job. So it seems what Jim told us 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.520 that the start has been going on for a while now, 0:06:31.000 --> 0:06:35.479 not just in specific warehouses. I mean that stretches from 0:06:35.520 --> 0:06:42.520 a UK warehouse in fifteen to a US warehouse in one. Remember, 0:06:42.640 --> 0:06:45.920 Jim said he thinks the official figures, which are very 0:06:46.000 --> 0:06:50.880 high anyway, for injuries at Amazon warehouses, are too low 0:06:51.040 --> 0:06:54.200 because he said, people are worried that if they report 0:06:54.320 --> 0:06:57.720 an accident or an injury, they might lose their job. 0:06:58.320 --> 0:07:02.440 Even so, these the two sticks for Amazon warehouse injuries 0:07:02.600 --> 0:07:07.520 in the US are very high anyway. You've spent the 0:07:07.560 --> 0:07:11.480 better part of a year investigating Amazon and its warehouse conditions. 0:07:11.480 --> 0:07:13.720 What did you find? We found that they're they're injuring 0:07:13.720 --> 0:07:17.560 a tremendous amount of people. These are extremely high injury rates. 0:07:18.080 --> 0:07:21.480 The reason behind us is just how fast these warehouses move, 0:07:21.520 --> 0:07:24.120 how fast the workers are acquired to move. They're injuring 0:07:24.120 --> 0:07:27.720 a tremendous amount of people. So let's look at the 0:07:27.760 --> 0:07:33.200 numbers again. Twenty twenty one study by these Strategic Organizing 0:07:33.280 --> 0:07:37.360 Center the s o C shows that workers are more 0:07:37.400 --> 0:07:41.360 likely to be injured Amazon warehouses than in any other 0:07:41.440 --> 0:07:46.080 warehouse in that industry. There also more likely to be 0:07:46.120 --> 0:07:53.160 injured more frequently Amazon warehouses, and even more severely. So basically, 0:07:53.200 --> 0:07:55.920 if you work in warehouses for a living, you are 0:07:56.040 --> 0:07:58.880 way more likely to catch a severe injury working for 0:07:58.960 --> 0:08:04.240 Amazon the any of their competitors. The data shows that 0:08:04.400 --> 0:08:09.640 Amazon workers had five point nine serious injuries per on people. 0:08:10.320 --> 0:08:16.200 For context, that's almost higher than other warehouses in the industry. 0:08:16.760 --> 0:08:19.920 Not only that, due to how bad the injuries sustained 0:08:19.920 --> 0:08:24.160 at Amazon warehouses are, the s OC discovered that Amazon 0:08:24.240 --> 0:08:28.360 workers also took longer to recover than others in their 0:08:28.400 --> 0:08:34.080 same industry. In the report, they say, quote in Amazon 0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:38.480 workers who experienced lost time injuries were forced off of 0:08:38.559 --> 0:08:43.120 work for an average of forty six point three days, 0:08:43.160 --> 0:08:45.440 more than a month and a half. This is a 0:08:45.440 --> 0:08:48.920 week longer than the average recovery time for workers injured 0:08:49.160 --> 0:08:52.480 in the general warehouse industry, and more than two weeks 0:08:52.480 --> 0:08:55.959 longer than the recovery time for the average worker who 0:08:56.080 --> 0:09:00.280 suffered a lost time injury. End quote. So both lee, 0:09:00.360 --> 0:09:02.960 if you work for Amazon, you're more likely to get 0:09:03.000 --> 0:09:05.760 funked up in the warehouse. It's more likely to be 0:09:05.840 --> 0:09:08.480 a bad injury and you're more likely to have to 0:09:08.520 --> 0:09:11.920 take more time off than any other warehouse to recover 0:09:12.000 --> 0:09:15.559 from it. The data shows that Amazon's injury rates are 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:20.640 actually more than twice as bad as their strongest competitor, Walmart. 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:25.640 With that in mind, let's hear what Amazon's founder Jeff 0:09:25.679 --> 0:09:29.760 Bezos signed off with In his twenty one a letter 0:09:30.240 --> 0:09:34.880 to his shareholders, Basos left on a very Bezos like note. 0:09:35.120 --> 0:09:38.160 He quotes a passage from a Richard Dawkins book that reads, 0:09:38.160 --> 0:09:41.880 in part, staving off death is something that you have 0:09:42.000 --> 0:09:46.440 to work at. Staving off death is something you have 0:09:46.640 --> 0:09:51.040 to work at. After going through all those numbers, ironically 0:09:51.160 --> 0:09:54.120 enough sounds to me that you might even meet your 0:09:54.200 --> 0:09:57.760 death whilst trying to work very hard to stave off 0:09:57.840 --> 0:10:01.920 your death an Amazon where house. But anyway, let's hear 0:10:01.960 --> 0:10:04.600 what else he had to say. He blamed the media 0:10:04.679 --> 0:10:09.000 for misrepresenting their employees as desperate souls. Are being treated 0:10:09.040 --> 0:10:11.880 like robots, he says, and I according again here, that's 0:10:11.960 --> 0:10:17.160 just not accurate. So apparently, according to Jeff Bezos, the 0:10:17.280 --> 0:10:23.600 real issues at Amazon, the reporters aren't being accurate anyway. 0:10:23.679 --> 0:10:26.800 Not only are people at risk of injury due to 0:10:26.880 --> 0:10:30.800 overwork in the Amazon warehouse. They're also at risk due 0:10:30.800 --> 0:10:39.680 to Amazon's lack of adequate weather provisions. In the summer 0:10:39.760 --> 0:10:45.280 of this year, one Amazon workers at New York's Staten 0:10:45.400 --> 0:10:48.679 Island Warehouse had to be carried out of the building 0:10:48.840 --> 0:10:52.880 on stretches due to the extreme heat from a summer 0:10:52.880 --> 0:10:58.200 heat wave. As reported by independent news outlet Status Coup, 0:10:58.760 --> 0:11:02.400 Amazon workers began to faint inside the warehouse, which is 0:11:02.520 --> 0:11:07.320 roughly the size of fifteen football pitches. Imagine how much 0:11:07.360 --> 0:11:09.840 he has to gather in a place that big to 0:11:09.960 --> 0:11:13.160 make it so hot that workers actually start to faint. 0:11:13.960 --> 0:11:17.439 Ambulances were cooled and people were stretched out of the building, 0:11:17.840 --> 0:11:20.800 but Amazon didn't shut down the warehouse. Instead, they gave 0:11:20.840 --> 0:11:24.160 them cheap portable funds, as if that would do anything. 0:11:24.720 --> 0:11:28.120 As the workers sweltered in the warehouse, employees in the 0:11:28.200 --> 0:11:32.240 offices sat there with the air con When workers would 0:11:32.280 --> 0:11:36.600 walk over to HRS officers where the executives were to complain, 0:11:36.880 --> 0:11:41.080 those HR officials would have perfectly working air conditioning, and 0:11:41.120 --> 0:11:43.839 in many cases they would be wearing hoodiess because it 0:11:43.960 --> 0:11:46.760 was actually cold in their corner at the warehouse. That's 0:11:46.840 --> 0:11:51.400 the voice of Jordan's Cheriton, the reporter who wrote this 0:11:51.679 --> 0:11:56.840 status coup article about Amazon workers fainting in the Staten 0:11:56.880 --> 0:12:01.360 Island warehouse, and inside the warehouse they're Amazon claims that 0:12:01.440 --> 0:12:03.839 there is a central air conditioner, but if there is, 0:12:03.960 --> 0:12:07.840 it's certainly not working. So on the ground floor workers 0:12:07.880 --> 0:12:10.880 have told me as soon as they got in there 0:12:10.880 --> 0:12:15.320 basically soaking wet from the heat inside the warehouse. And 0:12:15.400 --> 0:12:18.559 when you move up to the second, third, fourth floors 0:12:18.559 --> 0:12:21.920 of the warehouse it gets even hotter as heat rises. 0:12:22.080 --> 0:12:26.120 So I've seen videos just on in one day of 0:12:26.520 --> 0:12:30.440 four ambulance visits to Amazon. So it's a mixture of 0:12:31.000 --> 0:12:35.520 just sweltering heat. To corroborate all these status could obtained 0:12:35.600 --> 0:12:38.760 some of the internal complaints made at this time to 0:12:38.880 --> 0:12:44.720 the Amazon HR department from various different warehouse workers. Let's 0:12:44.760 --> 0:12:49.200 have a read Edison quote. If there's another oppressive heat 0:12:49.240 --> 0:12:53.200 wave like ninety or one degrees fahren high outside, will 0:12:53.280 --> 0:12:57.520 the facility be cool enough to work? End quote? Dana 0:12:58.000 --> 0:13:01.960 quote is still ways you hot even with the station fans? 0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:05.560 How is the system working properly? If internal temperatures a 0:13:05.679 --> 0:13:09.439 seventy to eighty degrees Please look into this until it's 0:13:09.520 --> 0:13:16.280 fixed properly and comfortable. End quote. Natalie quote, multiple water 0:13:16.400 --> 0:13:19.640 stations were out of water today. Many of the vending 0:13:19.679 --> 0:13:23.200 machines don't work. They take your money, though. The ice 0:13:23.280 --> 0:13:26.920 machines are always broken. If you had more consideration for 0:13:26.960 --> 0:13:31.160 your workers, these machines will be checked maintained more often. 0:13:31.440 --> 0:13:35.760 It would be greatly appreciated. End quote. It's clear from 0:13:35.800 --> 0:13:38.960 all this that the employees were in danger due to 0:13:39.000 --> 0:13:44.199 Amazon's inconsiderate working conditions, even when there's a summer heat wave. 0:13:44.480 --> 0:13:49.160 But remember what Bezo said, off depth is something that 0:13:49.200 --> 0:13:52.720 you have to work at. No. Let's check back in 0:13:53.000 --> 0:13:55.920 with Jim. You remember Jim from the start of the episode. 0:13:56.160 --> 0:13:58.600 He'd hurt his foot at Amazon, and he was telling 0:13:58.679 --> 0:14:02.600 us that he feels workers are scared to report workplace 0:14:02.679 --> 0:14:06.720 injuries to Amazon for fear that they might lose their job. Obviously, 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.640 Amazon doesn't fire them directly for getting injured, but as 0:14:09.640 --> 0:14:12.760 we heard from Jim earlier, he feels, as do other 0:14:12.800 --> 0:14:15.679 people that I've spoken to, that Amazon will find an 0:14:15.679 --> 0:14:17.960 excuse to get rid of you if you do hurt yourself. 0:14:18.520 --> 0:14:21.520 So I kept in contact with Jim to see how 0:14:21.640 --> 0:14:24.400 his injury was going, and Eventually it got to a 0:14:24.400 --> 0:14:27.320 point where he said, yeah, okay, he's gonna check himself 0:14:27.400 --> 0:14:32.040 into am Care and Care is Amazon's on site emergency 0:14:32.080 --> 0:14:36.960 clinic for workers. Now he found that after reporting into 0:14:37.040 --> 0:14:39.600 am Care telling them he had been injured at work, 0:14:40.120 --> 0:14:44.520 he found himself hounded by the managers. Now, maybe they 0:14:44.680 --> 0:14:46.600 just wanted to keep a real eye on him to 0:14:46.680 --> 0:14:50.320 make sure he was feeling better, but I don't think so. 0:14:50.440 --> 0:14:54.080 Here's what he had to say. So today, after every break, 0:14:54.880 --> 0:14:58.600 I had a manager asking me about my am care 0:14:58.680 --> 0:15:01.680 case and tell me to go talk to am care, 0:15:02.480 --> 0:15:05.880 uh to at least check in, even if I wanted 0:15:05.920 --> 0:15:10.560 to keep the case open all about the injury. So eventually, 0:15:11.040 --> 0:15:15.440 around four o'clock after like the third manager talked to me. 0:15:15.960 --> 0:15:18.920 And by the way, the way that the managers talk 0:15:19.000 --> 0:15:23.000 to you, it's very like agent Smith in the matrix 0:15:23.080 --> 0:15:27.080 because they it's never the same manager, and and like 0:15:27.240 --> 0:15:30.800 just like when they discipline you, it's always a manager 0:15:30.840 --> 0:15:34.280 that you don't typically see. Like they'll send you from 0:15:34.360 --> 0:15:37.720 they'll send you a manager from a different department because 0:15:37.840 --> 0:15:41.240 they don't want the manager that you talked to every day. 0:15:41.320 --> 0:15:43.760 And it's just supposed to build a positive relationship with 0:15:44.080 --> 0:15:47.360 to be the manager that punishes you. So the managers 0:15:47.400 --> 0:15:51.000 kind of just appeared out of nowhere, like like, okay, 0:15:51.080 --> 0:15:53.800 you're talking to me now, and never were reminding me 0:15:53.880 --> 0:15:56.720 to go talk to am Care about this injury case. 0:15:57.160 --> 0:15:59.960 So I finally went to am Care. Uh, and I said, 0:16:00.000 --> 0:16:04.640 and I'm good with closing the case now. My managers 0:16:04.840 --> 0:16:10.400 have helped me to accommodate and adjust to the situation 0:16:11.160 --> 0:16:18.040 and I'll deal with it now. Um. And she goes, oh, okay, Uh, 0:16:18.080 --> 0:16:20.280 so you want to close the case. I said, yeah, 0:16:20.640 --> 0:16:22.280 I want to close the case. I'm going to go 0:16:22.360 --> 0:16:26.440 talk to a doctor on my own time. And she goes, oh, 0:16:26.680 --> 0:16:29.280 if you're going to go talk to a doctor, then 0:16:29.360 --> 0:16:32.440 we got to proceed with the workers compensation claim. And 0:16:32.480 --> 0:16:36.320 I said, no, we're going to close the am Care case. 0:16:37.160 --> 0:16:40.240 And at this point, I am no longer comfortable sharing 0:16:40.320 --> 0:16:44.120 further medical information with Amazon. I could tell with like 0:16:44.200 --> 0:16:46.600 the doctor thing, she was like she was giving up 0:16:46.640 --> 0:16:48.800 to fight. She's like, Okay, so you're gonna go talk 0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:50.960 to your doctor and get a note, and and we're 0:16:50.960 --> 0:16:52.840 gonna have our notes and we're gonna have all this 0:16:52.920 --> 0:16:55.560 conversation here like like you could hear it in her voice. 0:16:55.840 --> 0:16:58.440 I could tell she was just probing for more information 0:16:58.480 --> 0:17:01.480 and she was just building a case that gainst the situation. So, 0:17:01.600 --> 0:17:05.280 as I said before, Jim is just one of several 0:17:05.320 --> 0:17:08.960 Amazon workers I've spoken to for Mega Corps so far. 0:17:09.640 --> 0:17:12.159 Bob known Jim for a while and I do trust him. 0:17:12.440 --> 0:17:15.399 He showed me photos of the forms, the injuries, and 0:17:15.440 --> 0:17:18.520 his work system, all sorts. With that said, I think 0:17:18.560 --> 0:17:21.000 it's clear here that as far as Jim is concerned, 0:17:21.359 --> 0:17:24.600 the managers at Amazon were more worried about having to 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.879 compensate Jim for his injury than the fact he was 0:17:27.920 --> 0:17:31.960 injured at all. One last thing that I found funny 0:17:32.040 --> 0:17:36.200 here from Jim, I asked for a copy of the form, 0:17:36.240 --> 0:17:39.840 and the copying machine was broken. So that probably tells 0:17:39.840 --> 0:17:42.719 you how many other people are worried about protecting their 0:17:42.800 --> 0:17:44.760 rights when they come through the door. But of course 0:17:44.800 --> 0:17:48.520 the copy of machine was broken. Either way, Jim took 0:17:48.560 --> 0:17:51.400 a photo of the form and he showed me it. 0:17:51.400 --> 0:17:55.440 It's nothing interesting, but for the sake of transparency, it 0:17:55.600 --> 0:18:02.240 says the following. After careful consideration, I Jim requesting that 0:18:02.320 --> 0:18:05.560 my case with am Care be closed. This includes any 0:18:05.640 --> 0:18:09.760 ongoing care slash first aid and scheduled follow ups. I 0:18:09.920 --> 0:18:12.920 certify that I am making this request voluntarily, and I 0:18:12.960 --> 0:18:16.239 am doing so by my own choice, without duress or 0:18:16.320 --> 0:18:20.160 undue influence of any kind. I understand that this request 0:18:20.280 --> 0:18:23.720 does not impact my ability to return to am Care 0:18:24.200 --> 0:18:26.639 if my injury should begin to affect me again, or 0:18:26.640 --> 0:18:29.840 should I have another injury or illness. I understand I 0:18:29.840 --> 0:18:32.480 am free to return to am Care for treatment at 0:18:32.520 --> 0:18:36.879 any point in time. Then there's the associate signature, and 0:18:36.920 --> 0:18:40.879 then the day, which was fairly recently. Now that's just 0:18:40.960 --> 0:18:45.480 one example. Jim didn't hurt himself too badly, and he decided, right, 0:18:45.600 --> 0:18:47.840 he'll deal with this outside of Amazon, will go and 0:18:47.880 --> 0:18:50.400 talk to his doctor. But I think the most interesting 0:18:50.440 --> 0:18:52.520 thing about that last thing he said is that his 0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:54.520 manager seemed to be gearing up for some kind of 0:18:54.680 --> 0:18:56.720 argument when he mentioned he was going to go to 0:18:56.840 --> 0:18:59.760 his own doctor. It's like they wanted to settle everything 0:18:59.800 --> 0:19:03.240 in house, so does not have to compensate Jim monetarily 0:19:03.600 --> 0:19:06.879 for his injury at work in the Amazon warehouse. But 0:19:07.000 --> 0:19:09.560 like I said, this is just an example. Make of 0:19:09.600 --> 0:19:18.000 it what you will. Now, whilst I was editing this episode, 0:19:18.480 --> 0:19:24.320 something truly awful happened. An Amazon warehouse in Edwardsville, Illinois, 0:19:24.359 --> 0:19:28.679 in the US collapsed due to storms and a tornado. 0:19:29.280 --> 0:19:33.280 The roof caved in around eight thirty at night on December. 0:19:34.440 --> 0:19:37.840 So far, at least six people have died and there 0:19:37.880 --> 0:19:42.959 were many still missing, all presumed dead. Also, they were 0:19:43.000 --> 0:19:47.679 all Amazon workers. They were Austin J. McEwen twenty six, 0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:57.159 DeAndre S. Morrow, Kevin D. Dickey sixty two, Clayton Lynn Cope, 0:19:57.760 --> 0:20:05.480 Ethery s Heab t four and Larry E. Verdon. Now 0:20:05.560 --> 0:20:08.520 let me be clear, I am, of course not blaming 0:20:08.560 --> 0:20:13.280 Amazon for their deaths. Amazon is, of course not responsible 0:20:13.440 --> 0:20:16.679 for a shock tornado. In a statement of the press, 0:20:17.160 --> 0:20:21.359 they said the following quote, We're deeply saddened by the 0:20:21.400 --> 0:20:25.120 news that members of our Amazon family passed away as 0:20:25.119 --> 0:20:29.159 a result of the storm in Edwardsville, Illinois. Our thoughts 0:20:29.160 --> 0:20:32.880 and prayers with the victims, their loved ones, and everyone 0:20:32.960 --> 0:20:36.680 impacted by the tornado. We also want to thank all 0:20:36.720 --> 0:20:41.000 the first responders for their ongoing efforts on seen. We're 0:20:41.000 --> 0:20:45.119 continuing to provide support to our employees and partners in 0:20:45.359 --> 0:20:48.960 the area. End quote. Now they just said there that 0:20:48.960 --> 0:20:54.080 they're continuing to give support to their employees. Well are they. 0:20:54.440 --> 0:20:59.679 As this statement was released, Amazon workers began to talk online. 0:21:00.440 --> 0:21:05.399 One worker, Stefan Jose Jones, posted to Facebook saying that 0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:09.160 Amazon were threatening him with disciplinary for not coming back 0:21:09.200 --> 0:21:13.080 into work the very next day, even though the police 0:21:13.080 --> 0:21:15.760 had called off the area because of course there was 0:21:15.840 --> 0:21:18.439 destruction all over the place due to the fact the 0:21:18.440 --> 0:21:22.240 warehouse Ruford caved in and six people had just died. 0:21:22.720 --> 0:21:26.879 Here's what Stefan Jose Jones wrote on his Facebook page 0:21:27.040 --> 0:21:30.840 in full quote, I'm on the phone with Amazon E 0:21:31.160 --> 0:21:33.600 r C and they're telling me I'll be marked as 0:21:33.640 --> 0:21:37.240 a missing shift, even though the state police just told 0:21:37.320 --> 0:21:40.040 me to go home. Then he got the nerve to 0:21:40.080 --> 0:21:42.439 get smart with me and say if I want the 0:21:42.440 --> 0:21:45.159 points removed, I need to go back to the site 0:21:45.160 --> 0:21:50.680 and speak to HR. There is no HR or management office. 0:21:51.119 --> 0:21:55.200 It's buried and the building is surrounded by emergency management 0:21:55.400 --> 0:21:59.080 and cops. All I know is they better pay me 0:21:59.160 --> 0:22:02.359 and relocate us to d l I five or something. 0:22:02.840 --> 0:22:05.879 The whole weird thing is all week building maintenance and 0:22:06.000 --> 0:22:09.560 different crews have been in there watching us, doing inspections 0:22:09.840 --> 0:22:13.440 on the equipment and started hiring for the Safety Committee 0:22:13.600 --> 0:22:19.800 yesterday end quote. Another Amazon worker, Leslie Campbell, wrote the 0:22:19.880 --> 0:22:25.080 following on Twitter quote. I'm an Amazon worker in Kentucky. 0:22:25.480 --> 0:22:29.119 Tornado hit two miles from my house and I physically 0:22:29.160 --> 0:22:32.320 couldn't get to work for my shift. The e C 0:22:32.600 --> 0:22:35.640 team told me that they had no record of tornadoes 0:22:35.920 --> 0:22:39.359 in Kentucky and couldn't help me with not getting attendance 0:22:39.400 --> 0:22:43.120 time reduced for today. My house plus many others are 0:22:43.160 --> 0:22:46.240 still without power, but that pels in comparison to the 0:22:46.280 --> 0:22:49.480 loss of life and homes that others have gone through 0:22:49.760 --> 0:22:52.439 in the grand scheme of today, My family and I 0:22:52.760 --> 0:22:57.880 were lucky end quote. So before the bodies of six 0:22:57.920 --> 0:23:03.200 Amazon workers killed in a tragic natural disaster were barely 0:23:03.320 --> 0:23:07.320 even cold, Amazon told workers that they had to get 0:23:07.359 --> 0:23:11.399 back to work the very next day. So if you 0:23:11.480 --> 0:23:15.920 work on Amazon and you work across the street from 0:23:15.960 --> 0:23:19.080 the collapse building, you are to report to your shift 0:23:19.640 --> 0:23:24.520 starting at twelve pm tomorrow tomorrow. And they said that 0:23:24.560 --> 0:23:27.840 they're providing support to their employees and partners in the area. 0:23:28.480 --> 0:23:31.560 It doesn't sound like it to me. There's one more 0:23:31.640 --> 0:23:34.080 thing that I want to mention in regards to the 0:23:34.200 --> 0:23:38.480 tragedy in Illinois. This came in just as we were 0:23:38.480 --> 0:23:41.840 ready to publish this episode. Thank you to everyone that 0:23:41.880 --> 0:23:46.240 sends it to me. This was first reported by more 0:23:46.440 --> 0:23:51.080 Perfect Union and Excellent platform that's dedicated to building a 0:23:51.119 --> 0:23:56.199 better environment for all working people. They specialize in getting 0:23:56.240 --> 0:24:00.159 information out there into the media about various situations with 0:24:00.440 --> 0:24:04.880 unions and what have you. They published a text message 0:24:04.960 --> 0:24:09.280 from Larry Verdon. Remember we mentioned him earlier. He was 0:24:09.320 --> 0:24:12.560 one of the people who died when the tornado hit 0:24:12.640 --> 0:24:18.000 the Amazon warehouse. This is a tragic text message that 0:24:18.080 --> 0:24:23.959 he sent to his girlfriend. It says, quote Larry, well, 0:24:24.000 --> 0:24:27.560 I will be home after the storm his girlfriend. What 0:24:27.600 --> 0:24:34.480 do you mean, Larry, Amazon won't let us leave his girlfriend? 0:24:35.600 --> 0:24:38.680 All it's doing here is lightning? So what are you doing? 0:24:38.840 --> 0:24:42.760 I hope everything is okay. I love you? End quote. 0:24:43.480 --> 0:24:47.800 Of course, Larry never replied. Sadly, he was killed when 0:24:47.840 --> 0:24:52.439 the roof caved in the Amazon warehouse. He leaves behind 0:24:52.720 --> 0:24:56.120 four children. Now, there's no more information out there yet 0:24:56.119 --> 0:24:59.080 regarding what Larry said, saying that Amazon wouldn't let them leave, 0:24:59.640 --> 0:25:03.280 but as comes in, we will keep you updated. To 0:25:03.480 --> 0:25:07.679 some this might seem unrelated, but one day after the 0:25:07.760 --> 0:25:12.760 tragedy at the Amazon warehouse in Illinois, Jeff Bezos launched 0:25:12.800 --> 0:25:17.400 another one of his Blue Origin rockets into near space. 0:25:18.160 --> 0:25:21.960 We'll go into Blue Origin in another episode, but basically 0:25:22.359 --> 0:25:27.240 it's Jeff's commercial space flight venture. It's something he said 0:25:27.280 --> 0:25:32.439 when it launched that all Amazon customers and employees paid 0:25:32.480 --> 0:25:37.040 for I want to think every Amazon employee and every 0:25:37.160 --> 0:25:42.560 Amazon customer, because you guys paid for all this. Personally, 0:25:42.720 --> 0:25:45.679 I think it was bad taste not to postpone the flight, 0:25:46.119 --> 0:25:50.480 considering six of those said employees were just killed under 0:25:50.520 --> 0:25:54.159 the weight of a collapsing Amazon warehouse as a tornado 0:25:54.320 --> 0:26:02.440 tour through it. But that's just me. In the next 0:26:02.480 --> 0:26:06.120 episode of Mega Corp, we'll be looking into how exactly 0:26:06.160 --> 0:26:09.400 Jeff Bezos made so much money through Amazon and how 0:26:09.440 --> 0:26:12.480 he's managed to wrangle it that he paid no corporation 0:26:12.560 --> 0:26:15.960 tax in the UK last year whilst making a sales 0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:20.639 income of forty four billion euros in Europe. We'll go 0:26:20.720 --> 0:26:30.520