Iran Press/ America: The e-commerce colossus is believed to have had COVID-19 cases in a number of its warehouses and has seen employee protests and walkouts in several of them to press for safety improvements.
The worker's group, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, called on colleagues to call in sick on April 24, accusing the company of firing workers protesting a lack of coronavirus safety precautions and environmental issues.
Amazon, in response to some reports about firing the protesting workers in the US media, has said the firings resulted from violations of "internal policies."
The Seattle-based internet giant set a goal of investing $350 million to support employees and partners during the pandemic, which has thrust Amazon into the spotlight as demand surges for online services during extensive lockdowns.
The Coronavirus strike wave could shift power to workers; workers at companies like Amazon that offer poor pay and unsafe working conditions now know they are essential and many expect to be treated that way. Data show that more workers went on strike in 2018 than at any time since 1986, and the numbers held steady last year.
The strike wave is an angry response to a corporate establishment that has shown no social obligation to them during the pandemic, and to a federal government which has given trillions of dollars to the banks but has instituted no regulations for workplace safety against COVID-19.
In a stockholders letter, owner Jeff Bezos said Amazon had distributed face masks and was implementing temperature checks.
Earlier in March, Jeff Bezos said that all of his efforts are now focused on addressing the coronavirus pandemic, and the retail giant shared another effort it's taking in that regard.
Amazon is building its own lab to begin testing a small number of employees for the Coronavirus, the firm said in a blog post on Thursday. The company has assembled a team of employees, ranging from research scientists to program managers, procurement specialists, and software engineers, to start work on the project.
The company has also announced that it is ensuring safe working conditions at warehouses by enforcing social distancing, cleaning more regularly, and distributing protective gear to workers.
Seven Northeastern states in the US extended a lockdown order to fight the spread of the Coronavirus until May 15.
The number of confirmed cases of Coronavirus in the United States has reached more than 674,000, and the total death tally in the U.S. is now more than 34,000, higher than any other nation. 212/ 104
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