Angie Ortiz wears several hats at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Carteret. She has a 6-year-old and plans to graduate next year with a bachelor’s in health care administration. She says she’s on the job because she’s seen what Amazon does to protect workers.
The pandemic ended Victor Ramos’ wife’s restaurant job. He encouraged her to apply at Amazon and she got hired.
“I wouldn’t refer my wife here if it wasn’t safe, but I 100% know that it is,” Ramos, an Amazon robotics technician, said.
A local mayor called on Amazon to shut the facility down early on when several workers tested positive for COVID-19. The corporation has come under fire for dismissing a Staten Island worker who raised concerns about safety protocols during the pandemic. Others have taken to social media to complain.
The Amazon fulfillment center in Carteret says since the coronavirus outbreak began it has put in place 150 safety protocols.
“We’ve tripled the amount of cleaning that we’re doing, temperature checks and thermal screening, glove using and mask usage in our facilities, as well as hundreds of others that we’ve done not only in this facility but worldwide,” said Ryan Smith, the director of Amazon robotics fulfillment.
My tour of the center began with a mandatory thermal temperature scan. For those with a temperature there’s no entry.
“We would pull them aside. We would then give them a temperature check with a thermometer. If they remain elevated, we would actually send them home and they would return to work after they’re fever free for 72 hours,” Smith said.
Make the Road NJ has put a bull’s eye on Amazon, accusing it of pressuring workers to come to work.
“What’s happening is an uptick in concerns with employees there who are like, now two months after the pandemic we’re being told we have to come back and we don’t feel safe going back because of the number of cases,” said Make The Road NJ organizer Adil Ahmed.
“Not at all, not at all. I’ve never heard that concern,” said Ortiz, the Amazon fulfillment associate.
“What the workers want, from what I’ve been hearing, is they want an extension of the unlimited time off policy throughout the duration fo the pandemic,” Ahmed said.
“We did do away with the unlimited unpaid time off. However one of the things that we have done, we do have obviously other ways of both paid and unpaid time associates can take if they need to,” Smith said.
Amazon is giving workers an extra $2 an hour as hazard pay. It’s reassigned some workers to walk the floor and remind associates to social distance.
