The Amazon Labor Union is zeroing in on job-related injuries via a brand new program on the Staten Island success middle JFK8, the group stated Tuesday.
The union has retained lawyer Sean Riordan of the agency McIntyre, Donohue, Accardi, Salmonson & Riordan LLP as incapacity counsel. Union President Chris Smalls, who helped lead the union to its historic vote at JFK8 in April, stated office injuries might be his high precedence going into the brand new 12 months. The union stated Amazon staff are twice as more likely to be damage on the job in comparison with different warehouse staff, citing a research finished final 12 months.
“Amazon has workers doing 10 to 12 hours of calisthenics, on their feet for 10 to 12 hours and they have to commute two to three hours each way and I know from being a former employee that I’ve seen workers get injured on a daily basis,” Smalls stated.
In line with a Enterprise Insider report, knowledge collected in office inspections means that Amazon’s tempo of labor straight contributes to increased harm danger for Amazon warehouse staff.
Riordan might be working with the union to teach staff on the Staten Island warehouse. He stated Amazon staff are disproportionately damage on the job, and never sufficient of them are submitting claims.
“Really, the approach here is education, education, education, because you can’t enforce your rights and until you actually know your rights,” Riordan stated. “A lot of people don’t even understand that they have workers’ compensation rights in the state of New York..”
This system might be multi-pronged, educating staff on their rights, guaranteeing they get the correct medical analysis, and aiding with enforcement if wanted, the union stated in an announcement.
Amazon didn’t return a request for remark. The corporate has but to acknowledge the union after it voted to unionize.