Workers at Amazon facilities across the county, including one in Opa-locka, are calling out from work Wednesday to protest working conditions during the ongoing coronavirus pandemic.
More than 400 workers from nearly 60 facilities pledged to call out to protest what they say the company has not done to keep them safe while still staying open in the weeks since the pandemic began in mid-March.
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One demand from workers is that the company close any facility where a worker has tested positive for the virus, something that hits close to home as at least one person has tested positive at the Opa-locka warehouse.
“To be honest it is very scary,” a worker, who did not want to be identified, told NBC 6 last week. “The last thing we want to do is bring that back to our homes, to our loved ones. Because people are dying from it.”
Workers are also asking for guaranteed health care for all employees and the elimination of company quotas they say make having hand sanitization stations impossible at facilities.
Some workers told NBC 6 that the company was taking employee's temperatures on Wednesday in an effort to help screen for the virus, while also giving out face shields and requiring employees to wipe down their stations at the start and end of their shifts.
Amazon declined comment on the call out plan, but has previously said it has put measures in place to keep employees safe, including providing masks and taking temperatures while increasing cleaning measures across the country.
