A new national report released Wednesday says workers at Amazon's Minnesota warehouses suffer from a high rate of injury and those at its Shakopee facilities experience large pay gaps by race.
The report — done by the National Employment Law Project with assistance from local workers rights group the Awood Center — calls for a state investigation of health and safety hazards at the Amazon facilities as well as an examination of some of the online retail giant's overall practices when it comes to how it monitors and pushes employees' work speeds.
The report examines data from the U.S. Census, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) office. It concludes that despite the rosy picture that Amazon has painted to the public, its continued growth has come with "human costs."
"The first thing that we realized when we started looking into this is just how off the charts the injuries are," said Irene Tung, one of the report's authors and a senior researcher at the National Employment Law Project based in New York.
An Amazon representative wasn't immediately available to provide a comment.
Since it opened its large fulfillment center in Shakopee five years ago, Amazon has continued to expand its physical footprint in Minnesota. This year it opened a new fulfillment center in Lakeville. Amazon also recently opened a new sortation center in Maple Grove. Over the years, Amazon representatives have said the company has invested more...
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