FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: July 11, 2019

Contact: Chelsea Connor | cconnor@rwdsu.org | 347-866-6259

RWDSU PRESIDENT: AMAZON PRIME DAY EVENT IS NO HOLIDAY FOR WORKERS

“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, and especially during Prime Day events. But, this year, the toll on Amazon’s workers will be considerably worse. Prime Day has been expanded to two-days and earlier this year Amazon announced a new policy of one-day shipping that effectively doubles the pace of its workers. Amazon fulfillment workers were already facing speeds of 200-300 orders per hour in 12-hour shifts before the new policy. They were struggling to maintain that pace, even before the one-day shipping policy was announced. Testing hundreds of thousands of workers physical limits as though they were trained triathletes is the wrong approach. Operating at these speeds for this duration means Amazon needs to hire more workers, under more sustainable speeds that don’t put worker’s lives in jeopardy. Amazon needs to understand that human beings are not robots,” said Stuart Appelbaum, President of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU).