FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: November 17, 2021
Contact: Chelsea Connor | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259
AMAZON HOLIDAY STATEMENT FROM RWDSU
(NEW YORK, NY) – As the holiday shopping season gets underway, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), issued the following statement urging Amazon to treat workers with dignity and respect – especially at this time of year:
“This holiday season, as shoppers continue to make their purchases online, Amazon workers are being pushed to the brink. Every year, Amazon workers across the world are forced to work mandatory overtime and at an often-unattainable pace that results in injuries. Amazon must be held accountable for its egregious quotas and safety issues, which are injuring workers around the globe at an alarming rate. No worker should ever have to worry if they’ll go home injured after a shift.
“Amazon has a well-documented history of mistreating and dehumanizing its workers in the U.S. and around the world. The stress can be particularly hard on any day, but especially during the holiday shopping season. Workers at Amazon’s warehouses are pushed to the limits to meet unreasonable quotas and demands from nameless and faceless algorithms and apps on their phones.
“Amazon needs to recognize the health and safety needs of its employees. It needs to reduce the unbearable pace of work which has resulted in countless documented physical and mental injuries – a pace of work that is only exacerbated by the holiday shopping season.
“Most importantly, Amazon must stop union-busting. The company has continued to repress workers' voices and prevent their ability to make effective change at work – which can only happen when workers are able to join together through a union,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).
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The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) represents 100,000 members throughout the United States. The RWDSU is affiliated with the United Food and Commercial Workers Union (UFCW). For more information, please visit our website at www.rwdsu.org, Facebook:/RWDSU.UFCW Twitter:@RWDSU.