Amazon in Kenosha probed for virus safety
OSHA pays surprise visit after 60 positive tests
Federal officials paid a surprise visit to Amazon facilities in Kenosha this month after reviewing complaints about coronavirus safety at the warehouses, where managers have not fully cooperated with local health officials.
At least 60 workers on the campus have tested positive in the past three months, according to messages from managers to employees, which employees shared with the Journal Sentinel.
Inspectors with the U.S. Occupational Safety and Health Administration visited the facilities June 4, public records show. An OSHA spokesperson would not share any findings from the inspections, as the cases are still open.
Amazon spokesperson Jen Crowcroft would not say whether the company was making any changes in response to OSHA’s inspections. More information will be available when the cases are closed.
Crowcroft said the company has spent $800 million on COVID-related safety measures nationwide, including protective gear, cleaning operations, temperature checks and testing.
Last month, the Journal Sentinel reported a growing number of Amazon workers were testing positive while the company would not share information with health officials or allow health officials to offer more widespread testing.
Following those reports, Amazon allowed health officials to tour the Kenosha facilities and promised to start testing workers.
Jen Freiheit, health officer for Kenosha County, said she is still struggling to get information from Amazon and ensure that all workers are tested expeditiously.
Amazon is using a private company to test some employees. Freiheit said Amazon will not tell her how many workers have been tested or how many have tested positive. She has asked Amazon to allow the National Guard inside to test all employees.
“From a public health standpoint we would like to test all employees at one time, so that we could really investigate, contact trace, and contain it in one fell swoop,” Freiheit said.
Crowcroft said the company is notifying county health officials about their own residents who test positive. But the company is not providing a total number of employees at the facilities who test positive, so no local health officials have a full picture of the outbreak.
Two employees told the Journal Sentinel that some workers have gotten errors on their results, and multiple workers posted on social media about these errors.
Amazon operates two facilities on its grounds east of Interstate 94 in Kenosha: MKE1, a 1 million-square-foot
fulfillment center where workers receive products and send off packages; and MKE5, a sorting center that’s half that size.
As the pandemic hit, orders through Amazon surged. The company hired new workers, paid for some safety measures, and provided a pay bump of $2 per hour. It also allowed workers concerned for their safety, or needing to care for family members, to take unlimited unpaid time off.
Amazon reported a net income of $2.5 billion in the first three months of 2020, compared with $3.6 billion in the same quarter last year. Share prices rose. Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos has gained more wealth than anyone in the world this year: $44.2 billion so far, according to Bloomberg.
Amazon workers in Kenosha have told the Journal Sentinel it’s difficult or impossible to keep a proper distance from others on the job while keeping up with productivity expectations. At least eight Amazon workers nationwide have died from COVID-19.
Though coronavirus continues to sicken workers, Amazon eliminated the pay bump at the end of May. It ended its unlimited time off policy at the end of April.
Resources for workers
Workers in Wisconsin who feel their working environment is unsafe can contact the Wisconsin Committee on Occupational Safety and Health (WisCOSH) for advice and potential arbitration. Reach the organization at 414-9332338 or wiscosh@wiscosh.org.
Workers can also file complaints with the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) at osha .gov/workers/file_complaint.html. WisCOSH can also assist with filing a complaint with OSHA.