As the coronavirus has put many countries into lockdown, many people have turned to online purchasing to minimize contact with others. One giant company whose workers threaten to strike is Amazon. The workers are angry that proper protection from coronavirus has not been provided by the company. US senators have written to Jeff Bezos, the Amazon boss about the safety concerns, but the company says they are taking extra precautions for the increase of online shopping orders. They stated how the company was taking more time to clean its facilities and introduced staggered shifts and break times for extra precautions. An open letter was also addressed to the staff, written by Mr. Bezos, to thank them for their work. Amazon is also looking to hire more workers for their warehouses around the world in order to meet the demand. The worker's pay would also be increased around the world, the pay increasing $2 per hour in the US while workers are told to work overtime. Amazon has been receiving questions from US lawmakers about shortages of protection and cleaning supplies, and sick leave policies. There have also been strikes in France and Italy from workers and some legal complaints about the problems arising in Spain. Another company facing threats for strikes is Instacart. The shoppers and Gig Workers collective accused the company of putting the delivery workers in the front line for risk and profiting off that. Both companies are met with angry people who argue that the firms should provide protective gear as coronavirus continues to keep most of the world on lockdown.
1. What should the companies be doing to provide more protection or services for their workers who are still working or are unable to?
2. Will people still working, despite the precautions taken, spread the virus even more?
3. Due to the growing demand for online shopping, how are other businesses affected? What can be done to help the smaller businesses who depend on customer visits?
I believe that companies should be doing more to provide adequate protection to their workers who are still working because if not, it will harm both the workers and the recipients of their services and goods, as Covid-19 can last on surfaces for up to several days; that, combined with direct or indirect contact with others, will spread the virus much faster, which would be much more detrimental to the world than if Amazon just stopped delivering less frequently because of a shortage of workers. People can help to support smaller businesses like family restaurants by wearing a mask and gloves and going to pick up that food for a meal or two during the week, making sure to be safe while also supporting their local businesses.
ReplyDeleteCompanies should be able to provide workers with protection, such as more hand sanitizer dispensers around the warehouse, and perhaps more cleaning products around in general. The warehouse should be thoroughly cleaned every night to prevent any germs that might have been place there throughout the day. I believe that although the virus is spreading rapidly, people will still continue to work, at least for the foreseeable future, as many people rely on daily income. If the virus continues to spread, companies could start working shorter shifts and less days a week for example, Saturday and Sundays only, to help prevent the spread but still earn daily income.
ReplyDeleteI do agree with you as the companies shouldn't be taking advantage of this increased business to also increase the work load on their workers and not provide sufficient protection. The automatic hand sanitizer dispensers and maybe hand wipes around the warehouses etc would satisfy the workers. I also agree that some workers are required to deliver etc as people will complain/riot if companies start to refuse to send items people purchased. If the virus doesn't slow down, I do think companies might consider rescheduling their workers to make them have shorter shifts and maybe have more workers rotations so the people that need an income have a fair chance to make some money.
DeleteThe companies should be doing more to help the workers and giving more options to those who are unable to. They can have better sanitation within the workplace and to change the sick leave policies to give more flexibility to those who chose not to work or are unable to. I think for the big businesses that have more support and will not be affected as much by the virus, they should try and find ways to super the smaller companies who relay on the in store purchases.
ReplyDeleteEven with precautions, when workers are working, they could still spread the virus. From the news, we always hear about people not taking the issue seriously and not washing their hands, etc. I believe that a portion of the workers would probably not take this seriously, and thus spread the virus even quicker. No matter the precautions, it all depends on the choices that man makes on this issue.
ReplyDeleteI believe that if a company is making their employees work during such a difficult and dangerous time, the company is responsible for providing everyone with the necessary equipment to stay safe. With that being said, there is always room for spreading the virus if the workers aren't taking their responsibilities seriously. It is unfortunate that people must work during this time, but many people rely on their day-to-day work to make just enough money to get by.
ReplyDeleteThe company should be enforcing stricter sanitation policies and provide protective gear for workers that are still at the job; inevitably, the virus will end up spreading due to mishaps and people not taking situations seriously enough. However, shutting down Amazon is still an impossibility because the products it provides help people stay at home and away from public services, thus, technically, minimizing the spread of the virus. On the other hand, this spells trouble for public businesses that need customers to keep making money. These businesses, of course, need to be cut a lot of slack and helped to adjust to a more take-out based routine.
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