TO: Professor Desa

FROM: Group 2 Bus 682-03

DATE: March 10, 2023

SUBJECT: Amazon Labor Practices

What’s Our Issue

Amazon is the second largest employer in the U.S. (Forbes) and has a hiring strategy

that they believe is efficient and realistic for employees, but their 150% turnover rate and

dissatisfied employees argue that Amazon is not treating their employees well enough.

Amazon is facing criticism and accusations of the social issue of cheap labor issues due to

the company’s drive for profits at their employees expense. Amazon’s hiring strategy is to

hire employees, never give raises, and encourage quitting when they have burnt out. Bezos

has said that workers become disengaged and unenthusiastic as time goes on, and that is

why Amazon just tells them to quit and then hires a new, fresh, replaceable employee to fill

in the vacancies.

Amazon employees are paid about $37,000 a year for full-time employment in New

York City and bonuses to people who quit (Forbes). Amazon jobs are not designed to be

permanent though, often there are no opportunities for promotions of any kind, and there are

many injuries to workers from the repetitive labor.

We will further research Amazon’s abuse of its employees, and the culture Amazon

has created.

Why Our Issue Is Important

Labor practices are important to Amazon because they are related to economic

health, worker well-being, and ethical considerations. Amazon's cheap labor issue has had a

negative impact on the company, causing attrition and jeopardizing working conditions for

employees. According to Robert Reich, former Secretary of Labor, Amazon's use of low-

wage workers makes the labor market "unhealthy" and disenfranchises workers. It means

that labor practices of low wages, long hours, and unsafe working conditions will fail to help

employees contribute to the company and reduce productivity as worker turnover increases.

Furthermore, 200 public health experts (including former American Public Health

Association Presidents Linda Rae Murray and Walter Tsou) indicated that workplace safety

should be considered an employee health issue and should be taken seriously because it is

an everyday experience in the workplace. It represents an important employee health and

safety issue for labor practices because it affects employee morale, health, company liability,

and supervision, among other things.

Overall, experts believe that Amazon's labor practices are important to the company

because of the cheap labor force, the unhealthy, unsafe employees, and poor working

conditions that contribute to workplace injuries, exploitation of rights, and inefficiencies.

Experts agree that enhanced labor practices can help the company's profitability and

improve employee well-being by ensuring that employees are treated healthily and fairly.

The issue of Amazon labor practices is a highly emotional and concerning topic that

has been widely discussed and criticized in recent years. Pathos can be used to appeal to

the emotions of the audience and demonstrate the negative impact that these practices have

on the lives of Amazon workers. One of the most concerning parts of Amazon's labor

practices is its high rate of injuries and people getting sick in the workplace. According to a

report from the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health, Amazon has a “record

of preventable injuries and dangerous working conditions that are on pace to increase in

2021” This could have a huge impact on the lives of workers and their families. Also,

Amazon has been criticized for its terrible working conditions, long hours, high productivity

quotas, and limited short breaks. This can result in workers experiencing burnout,

exhaustion, as well as having to make difficult choices between their job and their personal

life. According to a survey conducted by the Organize union, 71% of Amazon workers

reported that they "often feel stressed at work" and 59% reported that they "often feel

anxious at work." Furthermore, Amazon has been accused of union-busting tactics and

retaliating against workers who speak out about their working conditions. This can create an

environment of fear and intimidation, where workers are unable to advocate for themselves

or their colleagues. This can also make it difficult for workers to access the resources and

support they need to improve their working conditions and protect their rights.

Amazon’s labor practices need to be changed in order to lower its employee turnover

rate, improve employees’ working conditions and environment. Improvement in these areas

will lead to a stable workforce. Employees who are satisfied with working conditions and

environment would not easily join a union opposed to those who are dissatisfied. Safety on

the job is also an ongoing concern that should be addressed. The company has reported

serious injuries related to their workforce, and that has forced warehouse and delivery

workers to take time off to heal (The Hill). As these poor labor practices continue, it will

encourage workers to join a union to guarantee standard labor practices are met and to gain

better negotiation powers with Amazon.

These issues of Amazon are important now, because the customers are aware of the

company’s labor practices and its efforts to comply with Corporate Social Responsibility

(CSR). If these issues are not resolved, it might damage Amazon’s reputation and its public

relations. As a result, it would decrease the number of customers, and those customers

might switch to using a competitor’s services or goods. In addition, the growth of Amazon

could potentially be a plateau or go into decline. The formation of unions is also costly to

Amazon, as they have to spend money on advertisements and programs to discourage

workers from joining.

Stakeholder Analysis

Amazon is a prolific company that has grown to almost 1 trillion dollars. Their

stakeholders are profiting immensely from this on paper. The stockholders that hold the

largest shares of companies include blackrock, vanguard, fidelity management and many

others (Forbes). Two of the other major market shareholders include the employees,

primarily the executives and higher-ups, and the shareholders of the company. It is a

publicly-traded company, so there are no non-market shareholders.

These groups are only concerned with making a profit and growing their money.

Although they may or may not participate in philanthropy, with Amazon they are looking for

their investment to be as lucrative as possible. This is because it is a for profit business.

The voting power for Amazon is the CEO; previously, it was Jeff Bezos. He was also

the majority shareholder which granted him exclusive control of Amazon. The new CEO

Andy Jassy has control over the decision-making, with the board of directors providing high-

level oversight to corporate performance and activities.

The only prospective option that can be proposed in order to form a stockholder

coalition would be if the majority stockholders were to perform a merger which is an

extremely unlikely outcome due to the profitability of each individual firm that makes up the

majority stockholders.

Ethical Theories that Prove Our Issue

Utilitarian Theory: Greatest good for the greatest amount of people

– From a customer standpoint, Amazon is the better option because of fast delivery

times, lower price and wide options

– From a company standpoint, Amazon is ahead purely based on sales and saturation

of the market (acquisition of whole foods/zappos/etc, add on services like amazon

prime/video/music

– Employee protests for change (warehouse safety, fires, large injury rates, ergonomic

hazards) often lead to being fired instead of taking concerns seriously

– Amazon truck drivers paid $17/hr while the standard is $32/hr

Rights Theory: Are basic human rights respected if Amazon employees are not paid their

fair share

– Given the fact that many workers shared that they are not given breaks or chances to

use the bathroom during long shifts, it seems as if the employees are only valued for

what they can do for the company without seeing them as human first

– High expected production rates do not match what is on their paycheck

– Employees taking matters into their own hands through the creation of Amazon

Labor Union (ALU): covid played a large part in this because they had to develop

their own safety precautions

Justice theory: “Justice exists when benefits and burdens are distributed equitably” (page

109)

– Are the people at the top considering everyone’s needs, abilities, efforts and

contributions being made to society’s welfare?

– or are people at the top more considered with customer loyalty, profit, and

efficiency by any means?

Project Timeline

Roles

● Person 1: Introduction, Who are Stakeholders?

● Person 2: Conducting Stakeholder Research

● Person 3: Stakeholder’s Impact

● Person 4: Summarizing Stakeholder Interview into table

● Person 5: Writing Stakeholder report/ analysis

● Person 6: Stakeholder Coalitions -Identifying ways to influence coalitions/ create

change

● Person 7: Problem/Outcome

● Person 8: Where to improve. Recommendation/Conclusion

Members Roles/Action items Time

Isaiah Michael Corona Person 1: Introduction

Who are Stakeholders?

April 10th – Rough Draft

Luis Galindo

Person 8: Where to improve.

Recommendation and

Conclusion

April 10th – Rough Draft

Brianna King

Person 6: Stakeholder

Coalitions Identifying ways

April 10th – Rough Draft

to influence coalitions/

create change

Ruike(Ricky) Li Person 2: Conducting

Stakeholder Research

April 10th – Rough Draft

Gurvir Singh Sandhu

Person 4: Summarizing

Stakeholder Interview into

table

April 10th – Rough Draft

Yuchi Tung Person 3: Stakeholders

Impact

April 10th – Rough Draft

Ela Wyckoff Person 5: Writing

Stakeholder

Report/ Analysis

April 7th/10th

Lila Zermeno Person 7: Problem/Outcome April 10th – Rough Draft

Action Items

● Researching the Issue

○ Introduction

● Stakeholders

○ Who are the Stakeholders?

○ Conducting Stakeholder Research

■ Stakeholders Impact

○ Summarizing stakeholder interviews into a table

○ Writing Stakeholder report

■ Stakeholder Analysis

○ Stakeholder Coalitions

■ Identifying ways to influence coalitions and create change

● Problem

● Outcome

● Where to Improve

● Recommendation

● Conclusion

References

Costa, Kayla. “Amazon Workers Speak about Stressful Working Conditions after Suicide at

Las Vegas Warehouse.” World Socialist Web Site,

https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2021/03/05/amaz-m05.html.

“Dirty Dozen 2021: Amazon's Dangerous Employment Model.” Leading the Fight for Safe

and Healthy Workplaces, https://nationalcosh.org/.

Kelly, Jack. “Amazon Prime Day Offers Great Sales-Here's What Workers Suffer through to

Make This Happen.” Forbes, Forbes Magazine, 9 Nov. 2022,

http://www.forbes.com/sites/jackkelly/2021/06/17/amazon-prime-day-offers-great-

sales-heres-what-workers-suffer-through-to-make-this-happen/?sh=655cddb61519.

Reich, Robert. “Amazon Workers' Astounding Win, and How Corporate America Is Trying

to Take Back Power.” Tumblr, 2 Apr. 2022,

https://robertreich.org/post/680432413956030464

Rodrigo, Chris Mills. “Public Health Experts Push Amazon to Improve Working

Conditions.” The Hill, The Hill, 17 Nov. 2021,

https://thehill.com/policy/technology/581873-public -health-experts-push-amazon-to-

improve- working-conditions/.