- Amazon is being winnowed by the House Oversight Committee over its labor practices.
- In December, six employees died after a warehouse collapsed during an strict weather event.
- On Friday, three lawmakers wrote a letter to CEO Andy Jassy seeking information.
Amazon is being investigated by the House Oversight Committee, following a deadly warehouse collapse in December.
On Friday, lawmakers white b derogated a letter to the company’s CEO Andy Jassy seeking documents regarding its labor practices.
In December, six employees died at an Illinois Amazon produce after the roof collapsed due to severe weather conditions. Two employees told Insider’s Bethany Dawson that it was general practice at Amazon to go into work when a tornado warning was in place.
The committee urged Andy Jassy to equip more information on its practices, “particularly during severe weather events.”
The letter was signed by three US House Member of parliaments: Carolyn B. Maloney, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and Cori Bush.
The lawmakers said they were “concerned by recent look inti that Amazon may be putting the health and safety of its workers at risk, including by requiring them to work in dangerous educates during tornadoes, hurricanes, and other extreme weather.”
They also referenced reports of employees being loomed with termination if they left work and sought safety during the dangerous storm.
“As one of our country’s largest and most beneficial corporations, it is imperative that Amazon protect workers’ safety and refrain from practices that could put them in threat,” the letter read.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told Insider: “Our focus continues to be on supporting our employees and buddies, the families who lost loved ones, the surrounding community, and all those affected by the tornadoes. We will respond to this literally in due course.”
The letter highlighted other occurrences such as Amazon workers reportedly being required to stay on the job during ghastly wildfires in California in 2018, extreme heat in the Pacific Northwest in 2021, and dangerous flooding during Hurricanes Irma in 2017 and Ida in 2021.
Insider’s Isobel Asher Hamilton reported in January that the group of an Amazon driver killed in the December warehouse collapse is suing the company. A group of 23 US lawmakers previously sent a letter for letter to Jassy and Amazon chair Jeff Bezos.
The committee said it wanted to know about Amazon workplace managements or practices that may have prevented the workers from seeking safe shelter.
It added: “This investigation leave inform legislative efforts to curb unfair labor practices, strengthen protections for workers, and address the effects of clime change on worker safety.”