Defiant Amazon workers are planning to strike again at the same warehouse where a strike organizer was fired last week
- Workers at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island are planning to go on strike on Monday, walking off the job for the second time in two weeks.
- Strike organizers are protesting working conditions that they believe are exposing them to the coronavirus. Workers at more than 50 Amazon warehouses nationwide have tested positive for COVID-19.
- Amazon fired an employee who organized a protest at its Staten Island warehouse last week. A leaked memo showed Amazon executives planned to mount a PR campaign against that worker.
- Amazon has defended its warehouse conditions, saying it's enforcing social distancing and providing disinfectant supplies to workers.
- Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.
Last week, Amazon fired a Staten Island warehouse worker who led a walkout over concerns that workers could be exposed to coronavirus. Today, workers in the same warehouse are planning to walk off the job again.
Organizers of the protest say they've seen a spike in delivery orders, forcing warehouses into overdrive even as COVID-19 cases have been confirmed at more than 50 warehouses nationwide. The workers are calling on Amazon to shut down warehouses with confirmed cases temporarily for sanitation and to provide paid sick leave to all workers.
Workers have also criticized the firing of Christian Smalls, who organized a walkout last week at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse. Smalls' firing also drew condemnation from local elected officials, and New York Attorney General Letitia James called on the National Labor Relations Board to investigate.
Amazon said Smalls was fired for violating its social distancing guidelines, but a leaked memo last week showed top Amazon executives were planning a PR campaign against Smalls.
"He's not smart, or articulate, and to the extent the press wants to focus on us versus him, we will be in a much stronger PR position," Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky wrote of Smalls in notes that were forwarded to others in the company. Zapolsky later apologized for the memo, saying his comments "were personal and emotional."
Amazon has defended the conditions in its warehouses, saying that it has increased the regularity and intensity of cleanings at its warehouses, is enforcing social distancing, and has set hand-cleaning and desk-sanitizing standards for employees. The company doesn't provide paid sick leave to warehouse workers, but instead has changed its policy to allow unlimited unpaid sick leave (workers would previously have been fired for taking too much time off).
Amazon did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Workers at Amazon's Staten Island warehouse plan to walk off the job at 11:30 a.m. Monday.
