In the US of A, as the coronavirus outbreak escalates, many people have hunkered down in their homes and are turning to online marketplaces like Amazon to get essentials delivered to their door.
While physical stores run out of stock and cities are on lockdown, Amazon’s warehouse workers, delivery drivers and contract employees have been praised for their fearlessness in continuing to go to work during a crisis.
Amazon have proudly called their employees “heroes fighting for their communities” and CEO Jeff Bezos (left) boasted his workers’ efforts were “being noticed at the highest levels of government”, whatever that implies.
But these employees are not stupid – they know better. And they definitely don’t view their jobs with the same rose-colored optimism.
CNBC were told by at least a dozen Amazon workers that they’re terrified to go to work during the pandemic, while others have expressed frustration over how their employer has responded to the threat of the coronavirus at their workplaces. (Many of the workers asked to remain anonymous so as not to “upset” their employer).
There is this CNBC report published March 26 that there are at least 10 facilities in the US that have workers who have tested positive for the virus, and they all remain open.
″(The facilities) do feel unsafe”, one worker in Kentucky said. “Our building typically has 400 [people] or so per night shift. That’s a lot of people in a single building”.
It seems that at some places, essential supplies like hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes are rationed or there’s none available, leaving workers at risk.
Amazon even issued a letter for their drivers to show to police officers if they get pulled over for being on the road. The letter, dated March 23 and viewed by CNBC, says that the driver is “an employee of a supplier that provides vital services for Amazon, an essential business” and is “allowing members of the community to remain at home and reduce the risk of Covid-19 exposure and transmission, including the elderly and vulnerable persons”.
Not only that but workers say they’ve become paranoid that managers aren’t being honest about whether employees are sick with the virus, so that they can keep the facilities open and the goods flowing to shoppers around the country who need them.
A serious dilemma is brewing at Amazon: Go to work and risk getting sick or stay home and find themselves unable to pay their bills.
This is clearly, unfettered capitalism. Jeff Bezos is making $8,961,187 per hour but refusing to provide paid sick leave for all his employees! Shame on Amazon! Shame on Bezos!
The danger is very real because the death toll in the US has now passed China's official count with more than 3,500 Covid-19 fatalities – the former accounts for 1 in 10 deaths worldwide – and many more deaths are anticipated.
The New York Times’ Shane Goldmacher was at Donald Trump’s White House briefing where numbers were given for predicted deaths in the country! And he tweeted this today:
“This White House briefing room slide lists as “goals” 100,000 to 240,000 deaths. Breathtaking”:
Wow, 'deaths' have become an objective!
Of course, Trump being Trump, he cannot resist adding that there will be “light at the end of the tunnel”. We are going to see things get better “all of a sudden” like a “burst of light”!
Trump, America's No. 1 fool, whom you can always count on to give you fake optimism and false hope.
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