The U.S. government’s minimum-wage enforcers plan to zero in on the warehouse and logistics industry, amplifying scrutiny of a sector criticized during the COVID-19 pandemic for its labor practices.
A combination of explosive growth, low wages and the widespread use of contract staff demands that greater attention be paid to how the sector treats its “essential workers,” Jessica Looman, the acting administrator of the U.S. Department of Labor’s Wage and Hour Division, said in an interview Tuesday.
“We want to make sure that the outcome, as we’re continuing to move out of this pandemic, hasn’t been an opportunity for greater exploitation of workers,” Looman said. “But instead that we have learned a lot of lessons and it can be an opportunity to empower more workers.”
Amazon, which benefited from a surge in online shopping during the pandemic, has drawn much of the criticism. While the company spent billions to help COVID-proof its facilities, employees staged walkouts demanding greater protections. A group of workers also filed a lawsuit claiming Amazon was putting them and their families at risk. A federal judge dismissed the complaint, and Amazon denied the allegations, but the employees have asked an appeals court to revive it.
Amazon warehouse workers in New York and Alabama have mounted union campaigns, as have Los Angeles port truckers, who claim XPO Logistics illegally misclassified them as contractors. (XPO denied wrongdoing.)
In an emailed statement, Looman’s...
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