Bezos, the richest man on the planet, is not providing protective equipment against Covid-19 for his employees, who are on strike.

Brasil de Fato - Since March 31st, Amazon employees have been on strike to demand better working conditions during the pandemic caused by the new coronavirus. Owned by the world's richest man, Jeff Bezos, the company is the twenty-eighth largest on the planet. 

Read the article here about the growth of Jeff Bezos' fortune during the pandemic. 

Os United States They are now the epicenter of the global outbreak with more than 800 cases and 43 confirmed deaths. As is the case in most affected countries, the lack of testing and the fact that the cause of death has not been identified point to underreporting of the disease. 

Two subsidiary companies of the multinational, Instacart and Whole Foods, were also affected by shutdowns. Workers are demanding more personal protective equipment, as well as a pay increase for providing high-risk services, in addition to paid quarantines for those who may contract the virus. More than 150 employees are currently on strike. 

One of the strike organizers, Christopher Smalls, was the assistant manager of the Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York City, which has the highest number of cases in the country. He was fired days after the first protest. “Even the healthcare sector doesn’t have enough personal protective equipment. What makes you think we in retail are going to have it? We don’t have masks, we don’t have gloves, people are afraid to come to work,” he reports.  

Smalls also states that when the first confirmed case emerged at the workplace, the warehouse manager asked him and other administrators not to tell “anything to the employees so as not to cause panic”. Incredulous at the request, Christopher did exactly the opposite and alerted everyone he could. “They have the right to know”. In its annual letter to shareholders published last Thursday (16) in video format, the company contradicts these accounts and insists that all its workers are with personal protective equipment appropriate. 

According to Kevin Gustafson, a lawyer and leader of the movement. Democracy at WorkThe COVID-19 pandemic is a good time for the working class to organize and exercise its power in society. Gustafson believes that what is happening at Amazon could spread to other sectors of the market. 

"The great power that a workers' movement possesses is to show how important they are to the financial market through strikes, in which the impact that their removal has on the economy becomes clear."

According to the lawyer, in an atypical situation like a global pandemic, this workforce strength becomes even more evident. "We are in an interesting moment where we can almost visualize what a general strike in the United States would look like," the lawyer points out. The last general strike in the United States occurred in 1919, shortly after the First World War and, coincidentally, during the last major pandemic in recent history.

Although more than a century has passed since the Spanish flu and the last mass lockdown, little has been done in terms of preparing for eventualities such as a worldwide epidemic. "We've known for over a hundred years that a pandemic like the Spanish flu would happen again. We should have prepared for it," says Kevin Gustafson.

Despite attempts by the U.S. government to mitigate the damage caused by coronavirus outbreak – recently, a $2 trillion economic stimulus package was approved – the resulting financial crisis exposes the fragility of the country's economy. "The coronavirus is exposing the fragility and weakness of our economy, especially the post-2008 economy," points out Gustafson. 

Ironically, Amazon is enjoying record profits amid the pandemic, due to the growth of online commerce. The company's owner, Jeff Bezos, has increased his fortune by US$24 billion since the beginning of the outbreak. Workers like those at the processing center in New York are risking their lives to make this happen.

Faced with the obvious injustice, feelings of urgency and solidarity Tensions naturally arise among employees, who have no choice but to go on strike. When asked about the reasons that led him to decide on the strike at his warehouse in Staten Island, former assistant manager Chris Smalls stated: "Because of the people."

"I saw people getting sick weekly, and they are my family; we spend 40 to 50 hours a week together. I wanted to give them a voice, a platform where they could be heard. This was a cry for help." (Sought by...) Brazil of FactAmazon did not respond to requests for comment by the time this report was published.