Amazon fires three more employees who criticised warehouse working conditions

Retailer faces increased scrutiny over measures taken to prevent Covid-19 spread

Amazon fired three more of its workers who were campaigning against the condition for workers in Amazon warehouses amidst the coronavirus pandemic.

Bashir Mohamed, who worked at Amazon’s Minnesota warehouse was fired last week, Buzzfeed News reported.

Two other Amazon employees, Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, who had publicly denounced the conditions at its warehouse were also let go, The Washington Post reported.

Mr Mohamed, who has worked at the company’s Minnesota warehouse for three years, told the outlet that he had been campaigning for safer working conditions to protect workers from the transmission of the coronavirus.

He said that Amazon told him they terminated his employment because he refused to speak to his supervisor. He did not deny the allegation but accused his supervisor of treating him unfairly according to the report.

Kristen Kish, an Amazon spokesperson told The Independent: “We respect the rights of employees to protest and recognise their legal right to do so; however, these rights do not provide blanket immunity against bad actions, particularly those that endanger the health, well-being or safety of their colleagues. This individual was terminated as a result of progressive disciplinary action for inappropriate language, behaviour, and violating social distancing guidelines.”

Ms Cunningham, a user experience designer and Ms Costa, a principal user experience designer, were also fired last Friday according to The Washington Post.

An Amazon spokesperson said the two employees were fired for repeatedly violating internal policies.

The women had spoken out on social media against working for conditions for those working in warehouses, with both tweeting in support of activist warehouse workers hitting out at the company over conditions during the pandemic, the report said.

“We support every employee’s right to criticise their employer’s working conditions, but that does not come with blanket immunity against any and all internal policies. We terminated these employees for repeatedly violating internal policies,” the spokesperson said.

Both women were also part of the employee group ‘Amazon Employees for Climate Justice’, which encourages Amazon to take leadership in the climate crisis.

“They’ve wanted me gone for a while,” Ms Cunningham told the newspaper.

“They were targeting the most visible leaders in an attempt to silence everyone,” Ms Costa said.

The three terminations come two weeks after the company came under scrutiny for firing a worker who was involved in organising a protest of the firm’s handling of coronavirus.

Christian Smalls said that senior warehouse staff had not engaged with calls for the Staten Island site to be closed for sterilisation and organised a walkout in protest.

Amazon denied that Mr Smalls was fired for the protest and said his employment was ended because he breached health and safety regulations.

“We did not terminate Mr Smalls employment for organising a 15-person protest. We terminated his employment for putting the health and safety of others at risk and violations of his terms of his employment,” Ms Kish said.

“Mr Smalls received multiple warnings for violating social distancing guidelines. He was also found to have had close contact with a diagnosed associate with a confirmed case of Covid-19 and was asked to remain home with pay for 14-days, which is a measure we’re taking at sites around the world. Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came onsite further putting the teams at risk.”

Both New York Attorney General Letitia James and New York Mayor Bill de Blasio called for investigations into Mr Smalls’ termination last month.

“Amazon would rather fire workers than face up to its total failure to do what it should to keep us, our families, and our communities safe,” Mr Smalls said in a statement. “I am outraged and disappointed, but I’m not shocked. As usual, Amazon would rather sweep a problem under the rug than act to keep workers and working communities safe.”

The online retailer has come under increasing pressure by workers over safety concerns at their warehouses, with The New York Times reported that 50 of their 75 fulfilment centres in the US have had employees test positive for Covid-19.