Labor Department asks OSHA to probe worker deaths at Amazon

As Amazon.com continues to expand into every conceivable area of online retailing, one thing that the company seems to be ignoring is worker safety.

Late in 2013, and this year on June 1, workers were killed at Amazon sorting facilities in the U.S. Northeast. In the earlier case, a temp worker was killed in Avenal, New Jersey; the recent one involved a forklift driver in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

As a result, the U.S. Department of Labor has assigned its Occupational Safety and Health Administration division to investigate any wrongdoing. So far, OSHA cited five subcontractors that Amazon used in its plant.

The company has nearly a hundred U.S. warehouses, and many rely on temporary workers. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, in 2012, “deadly work injuries involving contractor worker fatalities – including temporary help service workers – accounted for 708, or 16 percent, of the 4,383 fatal work injuries in 2012.”

Labor worldwide has responded to Amazon speedups and low pay. In 2013, German workers warehouse workers struck for pay increases and collective bargaining agreements. This year, workers at a Delaware Amazon plant staged an organizing drive.

Union contracts don’t just promise better worker pay and benefits, and dignity. They also save lives.

Amazon Worker Issues Mount Amid Labor Department Scrutiny (Bloomberg, Jun. 14, 2014)