An Amazon executive has quit his job ‘in dismay’ at the firing of whistleblowers who raised concerns about unsafe warehouse working conditions amid coronavirus.
Engineer Tim Bray announced he was leaving the online retail giant after more than five years, citing the ‘vein of toxicity running through the company culture’. He slammed the tech giant’s actions as ‘chickens**t’.
The VP at Amazon Web Services says at least six of his colleagues have been fired for speaking out; Courtney Bowden, Gerald Bryson, Maren Costa, Emily Cunningham, Bashir Mohammed, and Chris Smalls.
In a blog Bray says the move will ‘probably cost me over a million (pre-tax) dollars’ but adds: ‘Firing whistleblowers…is evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison’
He adds: ‘The warehouse workers are weak and getting weaker, what with mass unemployment and (in the US) job-linked health insurance.
‘So they’re gonna get treated like crap, because capitalism. Any plausible solution has to start with increasing their collective strength.’
DailyMail.com has contacted Amazon for comment.
Tim Bray, pictured, announced he has quit his job ‘in dismay’ at the firing of whistleblowers who raised concerns about unsafe warehouse working conditions amid coronavirus
Workers protest against the failure from their employers to provide adequate protections in the workplace of the Amazon delivery hub on National May Day Walkout/Sickout by workers in Hawthorne, California
A message is painted by activists on the street outside of one of homes of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos during the outbreak of the coronavirus disease in Washington on April 29
The world’s largest online retailer has been facing intense scrutiny by lawmakers and unions over whether it is doing enough to protect staff from the coronavirus.
And former Google employee Bray, who has already spoken out about Amazon’s response to climate change, he ‘snapped’ after the firing of Cunningham and Costa.
He says he escalated his concerns ‘through the proper channels and by the book’ but argues Amazon’s actions reflect a ‘corresponding lack of vision about the human costs of the relentless growth and accumulation of wealth and power’.
Fired Cunningham thanked Bray for his resignation, writing: ‘Amazon VP @timbray resigns over #covid firings of me, @marencosta, and others.
‘Says Amazon “firing whistleblowers” is “evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture. I choose neither to serve nor drink that poison.”
‘Thank you, Tim.’
‘The warehouse workers are weak and getting weaker, what with mass unemployment and (in the US) job-linked health insurance. So they’re gonna get treated like crap, because capitalism’, Bray writes.
‘Any plausible solution has to start with increasing their collective strength.’
Former Amazon employee, Christian Smalls, stands with fellow demonstrators during a protest outside of an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island
Designers Emily Cunningham, left, and Maren Costa, right, both critics of the online retail giant’s working conditions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, were fired from Amazon
Bray also noted that the a number of Attorney Generals have raised concerns about the working conditions in Amazon facilities.
The New York Attorney General Letitia James wrote the retail giant slamming the health and safety measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as ‘inadequate’.
Her office says Amazon may have acted illegally in firing a whistleblower warehouse worker ‘to silence his complaints’.
Amazon terminated Christian Smalls on grounds that he put others at risk by violating his paid quarantine when he joined a demonstration at Amazon’s Staten Island fulfillment center.
But the letter, sent to the company on April 22, adds that preliminary findings ‘raise serious concern that Amazon may have discharged (Smalls) in order to silence his complaints and send a threatening message to other employees that they should also keep quiet about any health and safety concerns’.
‘Amazon’s health and safety measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are so inadequate that they may violate several provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act,’ James’s office wrote in the letter.
Amazon, founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos, said it has taken ‘extreme measures’ to keep its employees safe, according here to a company statement cited by NPR, which first reported on the letter.
The Seattle-based firm has been facing public scrutiny over safety and working conditions of warehouse, delivery and retail gig workers in the United States after cases of COVID-19 were reported in some of its facilities.
Workers across the U.S. have protested at what they say are unsafe working conditions. As well as the walkouts in Staten Island and Minnesota, staff have protested in Chicago and Detroit.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and girlfriend Lauren Sanchez. Bezos is once again the richest person in the world. Whereas many companies have suffered during business shutdowns, Amazon has thrived and has even hired 100,000 new employees to cope with the surge in demand
The economic damage from the outbreak has been widespread and severe but for Amazon a surge in demand from those under lockdown that has seen it’s stock price rise
Bashir Mohamed was let go from the Minnesota plant where had worked for three years last week after protests there, Buzzfeed reports.
Designers Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, both critics of the online retail giant’s working conditions in the wake of the coronavirus pandemic, were also let go.
Amazon say Mohamed was fired because he refused to speak to a supervisor; Cunningham and Costa for ‘repeatedly violating internal policies’.
In March, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio said he ordered the city’s human rights commission to open an investigation into the dismissal of Smalls.
A spokesman has previously said: ‘We encourage anyone to compare the health and safety measures Amazon has taken, and the speed of their implementation, during this crisis with other retailers.’
But James’ office is also said to looking into ‘other cases of potential illegal retaliation’ against workers.
The letter adds: ‘This Office has learned that many workers are fearful about speaking out about their concerns following the termination of Mr. Smalls’ employment.
‘This is a particularly dangerous message to send during a pandemic, when chilling worker speech about health and safety practices could literally be a matter of life and death.’
It also calls on the e-commerce giant to close some warehouses for ‘adequate sanitization and disinfection’.
Leaked notes previously revealed the trillion dollar company’s plans to vilify Smalls.
Top bosses referred to Smalls as ‘not smart’ and discussed placing him as the face of the workers’ walkout.
‘He’s not smart, or articulate, and to the extent the press wants to focus on us versus him, we will be in a much stronger PR position than simply explaining for the umpteenth time how we’re trying to protect workers,’ wrote Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky.
‘They pretty much retaliated against me for speaking out,’ Smalls had told The New York Post. ‘I don’t know how they sleep at night.’
Workers from Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, Target and Walmart stage a mass sick-out and plan nationwide protests calling for hazard pay, paid leave and protective equipment amid the COVID-19 crisis
Employees at some of America’s biggest companies om Friday coordinated a ‘mass sick-out’ to protest unsafe working conditions amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Hundreds of workers at Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, Target and Walmart either called out sick or are walked off the job Friday afternoon in a push for hazard pay, sick leave, protective gear and additional cleaning supplies.
The employees have become essential workers during the COVID-19 outbreak, but say bosses aren’t doing enough to keep them mitigate their chances of contracting the virus.
While small groups from each of the companies have been petitioning for safer working conditions since the middle of March, Friday’s sick-out marks the first time they have combined efforts to create a large-scale ‘movement’.
The sickout falls on International Worker’s Day, and organizers are also calling for customers to boycott buying products from the listed companies for the entire day.
Pictures taken outside an Amazon fulfillment center on Friday afternoon, showed workers brandishing placards which read ‘Capitalism Is The Virus’ and ‘Capitalism Kills’.
Hundreds of workers at Amazon, Whole Foods, Instacart, Target and Walmart have either called out sick or are planning to walk off the job Friday afternoon in a push for hazard pay, sick leave, protective gear and additional cleaning supplies. A protester is seen outside Whole Foods earlier this month
Protesters outside Amazin’s fulfillment centerin Staten Island, New York are pictured Friday
The protest outside Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse was one of many scheduled to take place in front of large retailers across the country Friday
Christian Smalls helped to organize Friday’s sickout.
He had told The Washington Post that workers at about 25 Amazon warehouses are ‘expected to walk out at midday and petition in front of the facilities’.
‘The virus is killing some of our employees – this is a matter of life or death,’ Smalls stated.
Workers in more than a dozen Amazon factories have tested positive to COVID-19, and at least one worker has died.
However, Amazon – which also owns Whole Foods – has hit back, claiming labor groups are ‘spreading misinformation and making false claims’ about the company.
‘The statements made are not supported by facts or representative of the majority of the 500,000 Amazon operations employees in the U.S. who are showing up to work to support their communities,’ spokeswoman Rachael Lighty told The Post.
Christian Smalls, a former Amazon worker who was fired from the company in March after organizing a strike over safety conditions, helped organize Friday’s sickout. He is pictured at right
Supporters of the ex-Amazon employee turned out in force and called upon the online retail giant to provide their frontline workers with hazard pay, sick leave, protective gear and additional cleaning supplies
Healthcare workers also turned out to show their solidarity with frontline employees in the retail sector
Dozens of workers were seen keeping six feet apart from one another as they stood outside the Staten Island warehouse
One masked protester brandished a sign which read: ‘Treat your workers like your customers!’
The daughter of one essential worker was seen at the New York protest
Police were on hand during the protests, but there was no reports of misbehavior after workers at the warehouse walked off the job Friday lunchtime
One protester took aim at Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos with her sign
Meanwhile, Target says they are ‘distributing protective equipment, deep-cleaning checkout lanes, limiting customer traffic and adding plexiglass partitions’ to keep their employees safe.
They say only a small number of their 340,000 frontline workforce is likely to partake in the sickout.
However, one Target employee in Virginia told NBC News that he and his co-workers would be participating in the sickout.
Despite the protests, Amazon – which also owns Whole Foods – has hit back, claiming labor groups are ‘spreading misinformation and making false claims’ about the company
Workers in more than a dozen Amazon factories have tested positive to COVID-19, and at least one worker has died. Protesters are calling for more adequate safety protocols
‘As workers, we have agency, we have the ability to change things, and we don’t have to be passive spectators in our political and social lives,’ they stated.
And it appears that they have public sentiment on their side.
Hundreds of posts shared on social media Friday came from consumers saying they would not be purchasing products from the companies until employee demands are met.
Charles Booker, who is running for Congress, wrote on Twitter: Our lives are not commodities. Our labor does not define our humanity. This is why we organize. When necessary, this is why we strike. On#MayDay2020 and everyday, I stand in solidarity with workers and organized labor. Proud to be on the line with you.’
Another Twitter user stated: ‘It’s my birthday. Please boycott @amazon’.
One public policy expert predicts a public relations disaster of companies do not yield to some of the demands – given public sentiment is on the side of the workers
Posters in support of the customer boycott have been shared widely on Twitter
One public policy expert predicts a public relations disaster of companies do not yield to some of the demands – particularly given that Amazon and Instacart have seen demands soar amid nationwide stay-at-home orders.
‘If their sales are going up, but they are not passing any reasonable pay on to workers, it could be a huge PR disaster for some of these companies,’ a Molly Kinder, a fellow at the Brookings Institution, told The Post.
On Wednesday, activists protested outside the Washington, DC home of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, calling on him to increase safety protocols for workers.
More than one million Americans have tested positive to COVID-19, and more than 63,000 have died.