The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has reached a settlement with Amazon over allegedly dangerous working conditions at 10 of the tech giant’s facilities. Under the terms of the settlement, Amazon will pay a $145,000 penalty and must implement “company-wide ergonomic measures” to reduce the risk of worker injuries. OSHA will continue to inspect the facilities over the next two years. On the government side of the agreement is OSHA withdraw nine of his ten ergonomic allegations against the company.
Ergonomic injuries are also known as musculoskeletal disorders. These can include sprains and strains at work.
A Labor Department official said ABC News that this settlement is the “largest of its kind” and will resolve “all outstanding ergonomic litigation” against Amazon. However, this will not impact a separate investigation by the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of New York into Amazon’s alleged concealment of workplace injuries. Amazon has denied these allegations.
Amazon’s workforce also made headlines this week when strikes began at several facilities in California, Georgia, Illinois and New York. Members of the Teamsters union organized the action, and several union associations voted on it take action against the company. The Teamsters had called on Amazon to negotiate working conditions, wages and benefits and asked the company to agree on a contract negotiation date by December 15th. Local journalists from Hell’s Gate captured footage from the first day of strikes in Queens, New York, showing a peaceful picket line being broken by local police Barricades erected to allow contractors to enter and exit the Amazon distribution center.
“If your package is delayed during the holidays, you can blame Amazon’s insatiable greed,” Teamsters general president Sean M. O’Brien said in a statement from the organization. “We have given Amazon a clear deadline to come to the table and do the right thing for our members. They ignored it.”
