As millions of Amazon shoppers enjoyed Prime Day 2024 discounts on July 16 and 17, a US Senate report Pretend the event is a “major” cause of injuries to Amazon warehouse workers, citing a year's worth of data tracking working conditions.
The data showed that during Amazon's big shopping events, including Prime Day and the holiday season, warehouses are understaffed and Amazon hasn't hit its hiring targets for high-volume periods. The report also claims that during Prime Day in 2019, there were 10 injuries for every 100 workers, more than double the industry average for similar events.
Connected: Amazon Coffee Badging Office Work Hours: Report
“Amazon continues to treat its workers as disposable and with complete disregard for their safety and well-being,” US Senator Bernie Sanders. the report says. “This is unacceptable and this has to change.”
Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said CNBC that the report was not correct.
“He draws sweeping and inaccurate conclusions based on unverified anecdotes and misrepresents documents that are several years old and contained factual errors and flawed analysis,” Nantel said, according to the newspaper. “For example, one of the false claims in the report implies that we don't have enough staff for busy shopping periods.”
Newly published data from Adobe Analytics found that July 16, the first day of the Amazon Prime Day event, was the biggest e-commerce day of 2024 so far, with over $7 billion in revenue. Preliminary data indicate an increase of 11.7% compared to the same time last year.
The high volume, however, led the company to establish “unsustainable productivity demands and that serious injuries are common” during Prime Day, the investigation said, citing former and current workers. One employee claimed that workers had twelve-hour shifts with less than eight hours of rest in between.
“The first day and the holiday season are characterized by extremely high volume and intense pressure to work long hours and ignore safety instructions,” the investigation said. “Through its investigation, the Committee found evidence that Amazon fails to refer workers for outside medical care, which could affect whether an injury is considered 'recordable.'
“This is not an acceptable set of practices from one of the richest companies in the world,” the investigation said.
Amazon is exiting a strong Q1 2024with net sales reaching $143.3 billion, an increase of 13% from the same period last year.
Connected: Amazon CEO Andy Jassy scolds employees who resist back-to-office mandate
“It's been a good start to the year across the business, and you can see that in both our customer experience, improvements and financial results,” Andy Jassy, Amazon's president and CEO, said in a statement. that time.
Amazon it was upstairs nearly 40% year over year as of Thursday morning.