Amazon Prime Day Strike Echoes Warehouse Worker Suits
As a “rebinner” at an Amazon warehouse in Shakopee, Minn., Meg Brady’s task is a test of speed and stamina. Items ordered by customers arrive unwrapped on conveyor belts, and rebinners must pick them up, group them into an order, and send them through a cubby hole to be packed by workers on the other side, she said. During 10-hour workdays that start at 6:30 a.m., Brady, 55, said she must move roughly 600 items an hour, pushing buttons to log their passage. Lagging behind could mean risking warnings or getting fired, she said. But on Monday, when Amazon kicks off its Prime Day events featuring steep discounts, Brady will be among roughly 100 workers from the Shakopee facility who will walk out during a planned six-hour strike beginning in the afternoon, to protest what they say are overly demanding working conditions. News of the strike was first reported by Bloomberg News. “Our number-one concern is the production rates,” Brady said in an interview. “It causes repetitive stress injuries, and problems for people who can’t meet the production rates.” A spokeswoman for Amazon said Friday that its productivity targets have been the same since November, and that the company assesses workers “over a longFollow WWD on Twitter or become a fan on Facebook.
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