Amazon fires organizer of strike at Staten Island warehouse Marketwatch, Mar 30, 2020, NY Post
Amazon has fired the worker at its Staten Island warehouse who organized a walkout on Monday to demand greater protections from the company amid the coronavirus outbreak.
Chris Smalls, 31, a management assistant at the facility, told The Post he was canned in a phone call following Monday afternoon’s strike.
“They pretty much retaliated against me for speaking out,†said Smalls. “I don’t know how they sleep at night.â€
An Amazon spokeswoman confirmed Smalls was given the boot, claiming it was because he had violated social distancing guidelines and refused to remain quarantined, as instructed by the company, after he came in contact with an employee who tested positive for the virus.
“Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came on site today, March 30, further putting the teams at risk. This is unacceptable and we have terminated his employment as a result of these multiple safety issues,†Kristen Kish said in a statement.
The company also disputed the number of people who participated in the strike, saying only 15 of the 5,000 associates at the site took part.
Amazon called the workers’ accusations “unfounded,†saying it had taken “extreme measures†to protect staffers, including “tripling down†on cleaning, obtaining safety gear, having employees keep safe distances from each other and instituting temperature checks for anyone entering the facility.
He and dozens of other employees at the Bloomfield warehouse walked off the job to demand Amazon AMZN, 0.615% temporarily close and clean the facility after a worker tested positive for COVID-19 there last week.
They also asked the e-commerce giant to offer paid time-off for folks who feel sick or need to self-quarantine.
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https://www.marketwatch.com/story/amazon-fires-organizer-of-strike-at-staten-island-warehouse-2020-03-30?mod=mw_latestnews
