Politics & Government
Amazon Warehouse Cited For Unsafe Working Conditions — And Other Labor News
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry fined Amazon $10,500 for alleged safety hazards at its Shakopee distribution warehouse.
![Protesters shine a light reading “Amazon workers rising” on the retail giant’s fulfillment center in Shakopee during a worker rally for higher wages in December 2022.](https://patch.com/img/cdn20/users/23833043/20240630/042256/styles/patch_image/public/p1127846-2048x1251-1___30162204889.jpg)
June 30, 2024
The Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry fined Amazon $10,500 for alleged worker safety hazards at its Shakopee distribution warehouse in violation of two new state laws, the agency announced on Thursday.
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Minnesota Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspectors visited the warehouse in October 2023. The Reformer reported likely violations at the time, and inspectors found that Amazon did not protect workers from ergonomic hazards while picking, packaging and shipping products.
Amazon also failed to tell workers in writing what productivity quotas they’re being held to as required under a warehouse worker safety law that took effect on Aug. 1, 2023.
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Amazon is contesting the citations, issued in April, and did not respond to a request for comment.
State Rep. Emma Greenman, a Minneapolis Democrat who authored the warehouse worker safety law, said the worker hazards identified by DLI were unacceptable.
“Amazon may be the richest company in the world, but they too must follow Minnesota law and respect the rights and safety of workers on the job,” Greenman wrote in a statement.
The 2023 warehouses worker safety law aims to address reports of unsafe work speeds in Amazon warehouses, where workers’ movements and “time off task” are closely tracked. The law requires companies with more than 250 employees to disclose quotas as well as workers’ speed data upon request. Companies also can’t force workers to skip meals, restroom breaks or prayer periods to meet quotas.
Last year, the Legislature also created first-in-the-nation ergonomics requirements that make it easier for regulators to cite large warehouses and meatpacking plants as well as hospitals and nursing homes of all sizes for conditions that could lead to repetitive stress injuries, which are among the most prevalent health problems in the workplace. The law requires employers to assess risks and have an ergonomics program to prevent musculoskeletal disorders.
In 2021, the National Employment Law Project released a report based on OSHA data that found “extreme rates of injury” at two Amazon facilities in Shakopee that were more than double the rate at other warehouses in Minnesota.
Last year, researchers at the University of Illinois Chicago’s Center for Urban Economic Development released what they say is the largest survey of Amazon workers to date, which found 69% of Amazon warehouse workers took unpaid time off to recover from pain or exhaustion caused by the job.
After the report’s release, an Amazon spokesperson criticized the survey’s methods of finding workers through targeted online ads and said its injury rates have improved.
That $10,500 fine? It barely registers as a percentage of Amazon’s total 2023 revenue of $575 billion.
Minneapolis City Council begins hearings on police union contract
The Minneapolis City Council has not committed to approving a 22% pay raise for police officers, with some council members and police reform advocates balking at the historic pay increase for a department that is under court-sanctioned monitoring for civil rights violations.
The contract would set starting officers’ salaries at $92,693 next summer, which is higher than the Los Angeles or New York police departments. Most Minneapolis officers already work heavy overtime, which pushes their yearly pay into the six figures.
Supporters of the contract, including Mayor Jacob Frey, say the raises are necessary to refill the ranks of the department, which has dwindled to just over 500 officers from its peak of 900 since the police killing of George Floyd and subsequent protests and riots in 2020. Frey also said department leaders would have more power to address discipline, including allowing the chief to pay officers under investigation for serious misconduct on leave for up to 180 days.
Communities United Against Police Brutality called it “unconscionable” to give the double-digit pay increases to a department that has led the city to pay out $71.3 million in police brutality settlements since 2019. Minneapolis has also paid out over $22 million in workers’ compensation settlements to officers leaving the force in the first two years after Floyd’s death.
Meanwhile, the city is staring down a $21.6 million budget hole.
The City Council pushed the final vote on the contract to mid-July to allow for more hearings with public testimony.
“There’s always urgency that this administration moves with,” Council Member Robin Wonsley said. “We can take this time and that might help the council get to a place where they can support it.”
Wage theft and discrimination alleged at Environmental StoneWorks
Latino workers for a subsidiary of the largest manufacturer of exterior building products in North America say they were paid less than white workers because they were immigrants and allege Environmental StoneWorks has misclassified scores of workers to avoid paying overtime and other benefits.
LIUNA Minnesota & North Dakota, a union representing more than 13,000 construction workers, organized a demonstration outside a publicly subsidized affordable housing development in Fridley, where Environmental StoneWorks is installing stone veneer.
The union has helped current and former workers file complaints with the state DLI and the Minnesota Department of Human Rights for racial discrimination, misclassification and wage theft.
“When I asked why they received better treatment, my boss told me that Americans were not used to working as hard as Latinos,” said Angel Torres, who worked for Environmental StoneWorks at its plant in North Branch for nearly 15 years, in Spanish through an interpreter.
Minnesota offers free PPE to farmworkers as bird flu cases rise
Public health officials warn that farmworkers across the country — including about 112,000 agricultural workers in Minnesota — face a growing risk of contracting bird flu, which has spread from turkeys to cows, goats and humans, Sahan Journal reported.
“I am very worried about these workers,” Jennifer Nuzzo, director of the Pandemic Center at the Brown University School of Public Health, said on a call with health and science reporters across the U.S. “I’m also worried that this virus could mutate and become a pandemic threat.”
The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has reported three workers have tested positive for bird flu so far, and while the cases have been mild, Nuzzo and other experts worry that could change quickly.
Four states — Kansas, Nebraska, New Mexico and Texas — have begun voluntarily testing milk to better track the disease.
Minnesota is providing free N95 masks, goggles, and other personal protective equipment to those who request it, but so far only 43 farms have, according to Sahan Journal.
Minneapolis parks face looming strike
More than 300 Minneapolis parks employees could walk off the job as soon as next week during the Fourth of July holiday after 94% of workers voted to authorize a strike. Workers — unionized with LIUNA Local 363 — picketed outside Minneapolis Parks and Recreation Board Superintendent Al Bangoura’s home on Tuesday to draw attention to their demand for higher wages.
Workers who maintain the Minneapolis park system, which has ranked in the top three nationwide for the past decade, complain their wages are far lower than their peers in comparable suburban areas. The union also points out that the superintendent’s salary has increased 229% since 1984, outpacing inflation while rank-and-file workers’ wages have lagged rising costs.
“We deal with everything from needles and human waste to maintaining playground equipment,” said Lanel Lane, a parkkeeper, in a statement. “My family of four can barely make our groceries last.”
Mediation for the two sides are scheduled for July 1 and the earliest workers could strike is July 2, though no strike date or duration has been announced.
Kim’s restaurant workers vote to unionize
Sixty-five percent of workers at Kim’s — James Beard Award-winning chef Ann Kim’s restaurant in Uptown Minneapolis — voted to unionize with Unite Here Local 17 on Thursday. The election came after a highly publicized campaign after workers notified Kim of their intent to unionize last month. Workers told the Star Tribune they hoped a union would bring them more respect as well as more stable hours and higher wages. Kim told workers that unions “make a lot of promises” but they would be better off without one.
Jobs numbers
Minnesota’s labor force participation rate stayed steady at 68%, one of the highest in the country, according to monthly data released by the state Department of Employment and Economic Development. Unemployment rose by a hair — one-tenth of a percent — to 2.8%.
While the state has reported several months of sustained job growth, Minnesota lost 8,600 jobs from April to May, a 0.3% decline, according to DEED. In the past year, the state has added 34,950 payroll jobs — up 1.2% — largely in education and health services.
Overall, wages are outpacing inflation and national wage growth, according to DEED.
The Minnesota Reformer is an independent, nonprofit news organization dedicated to keeping Minnesotans informed and unearthing stories other outlets can’t or won’t tell..