Amazon Workers Plan Walkout After Staten Island Warehouse Reports COVID-19 Case

Dozens, if not hundreds, of Amazon employees at the e-commerce giant’s warehouse in New York City’s Staten Island plan to walk off the job on Monday — and have vowed to remain on strike until the company shuts down the facility and sanitizes it following the positive coronavirus diagnosis of at least one worker there last week.

“We want the business closed down and sanitized before we return,” Chris Smalls, a manager assistant who is leading the walkout, told the New York Post. “People are scared … We’re unsafe. There are thousands of employees at risk.”

Smalls estimated that 50 to 200 people would take part in the strike, which is slated to begin at 12:30 p.m. Some 2,500 full-time employees work at the facility, the Post said.

Amazon has faced scrutiny from employees, lawmakers and others over its handling of a spate of coronavirus cases at its facilities. Workers in at least 13 of Amazon’s U.S. warehouses have tested positive for the virus, known as COVID-19, since mid-March. Last week, the company confirmed that one worker at its Staten Island warehouse had contracted the disease.

Smalls told CNN, however, that Amazon may be suppressing the true number of cases at the facility. He said “as many as five to seven workers have been diagnosed” with COVID-19, the network reported.

He also said workers, including those at higher risk of catching the virus, who’ve chosen to self-quarantine have been forced to take unpaid time off. Smalls said the striking workers are demanding back pay for those employees.

In a statement to the Post, Amazon refuted some of Smalls’ allegations, calling them “simply unfounded.”

“Mr. Smalls is alleging many misleading things in his statements but we...

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