Two Amazon workers from Alabama died last month, one of them had a stroke after his request to go home was denied, according to two of their co-workers. They claim that work continued as usual despite the deaths.
The Amazon workers died within hours of each other, one at the facility and one after being transported away from work in an ambulance. In a video interview being widely shared on social media, Amazon day-shift worker Isaiah Thomas claimed that the man who suffered a stroke had been on the night shift in his department.
Thomas said that many Amazon warehouse workers don't have enough time off, and have a fear of being dismissed if they take time off beyond their allotted time. They're telling him that he either has to go home and lose his job or stay here and work through the pain. That's what he did.
An Amazon spokesman said they were looking into the matter. More Perfect Union said the company did not respond to its requests.
It's possible that Tweet has been deleted.
The workers at Amazon's warehouse tried to unionize in April but were defeated with 1798 votes against. The RWDSU told Mashable that it worked with More Perfect Union to release the report, but declined to comment further, citing a desire for focus to remain on the workers' stories.
The National Labor Relations Board found that Amazon interfered with the union vote by intimidating workers, and ordered a revote on Nov. 29, the day one of the warehouse workers died.
The worker who had a stroke was inside a trailer when he died, according to the worker. His body wasn't found until 20 minutes after someone realized he hadn't been seen for a while.
Both Thomas and Connelly were present for the aftermath of the deaths. Managers at Amazon told workers to keep working despite the deaths.
"They tell people not to talk about it, and then they go back to work," said Connelly, who has spoken before about his desire for unionization. There's no time to pray, there's no moment of silence, and there's no time to sit and have a prayer. A couple of people that worked with him or knew him well were very upset. A couple of them were not allowed to go home.
You're a body. They will bring someone else in and do the work once the body is used up.
Amazon came under fire after six workers died in an Illinois warehouse collapse during a tornado. The high rate of serious injuries in Amazon's warehouses is almost 80 percent higher than at other warehouses.
More Perfect Union's executive director said that Amazon's long history of putting their profits above their workers was the reason why their employees in Bessemer tried to form a union. We are here to tell the stories of Amazon workers who are fighting against their abusive labor practices despite Amazon's attempts to cover them up.
