Amazon made airport workers toil in 100-degree heat without shade, water — The trillion-dollar online retailer plans to appeal workplace safety citations and $14,625 in fines::The trillion-dollar online retailer plans to appeal Cal/OSHA citations and $14,625 in fines.
That is a BS fine. That is a rounding error for an hour of operation. They willfully endanger their employees and should be fined a percentage of gross profit, no other way they will have incentive to not harm their employees.
And they’re going to fight it. A literally insignificant slap on the wrist, and they’re still going to the wall. Burn amazon down.
Of course they’re going to fight it, courts operate on precedence…imagine if this stood how many other suits would come to the fold, even at 14k a piece it would show someone can at least fight against megacorps.
They should be fucking shut down. Fuck fines.
Well the fine system should augment the rest of the measures. It’s not as if you can keep doing what you are fined for. The punishment for repeat offence should and does result in escalation of punishment.
The issue seems to be two fold:
- The fine system did not keep up with reality and the insane income inequality. If fines are setup to hurt equally, like a percentage of global revenue, or of total assets, you can bet your ass they will be effective at stopping undesired behavior.
- The lack of shame, it used to be that getting a fine would actually serve as a signal people understood, but the corporate shield from personal responsibility has gone so far that decision makers just do not care about potential consequences.
Fines should be paid directly to the workers that had to work under these conditions. They should also be paid in multiples of yearly salary, it’s a trillion dollar company. The company pays more as a consequence and those that suffered get compensation. Maybe also a percentage should go to the agency (not Amazon related) overseeing this kind of thing like the NLRB.
It should also penalize the decision makers who hide behind the facade of a faceless corporation to allow them to do terrible things without consequences
To be fair, it’s the corporation that lets them do it. They still have their jobs and salaries after all.
“I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer, 'cause you guys paid for all this. So seriously, for every Amazon customer out there, and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart, very much. It’s very appreciated.”
~ Jeff Bezos, July 2021, as he departs for space tourism
It’s not the amount, it’s admitting they did this, which I would guess opens them up to being sued by those affected.
No idea what OSHA requirements would be in this situation, but the lack of adequate water is what really stands out. Working on the tarmac is the job, doing it without water is not.
Over a certain temp you’re supposed to get a certain amount of time outside and a certain amount inside or in a shaded area. Heat stroke is no joke and happens quickly at that temp.
Sounds like if these employees were unionized, they’d have an extra good case then.
I’m incredibly pro union. But union or not they have just as strong of a case.
