Despite Amazon’s poor working conditions being widely publicized, and despite the widespread strikes and protests that took place this past Prime Day, Amazon is still raking in money. It recently became the second company (in addition to Apple) to reach $1 trillion. But in an effort to combat this superpower and its exploitative workplace conditions, former Amazon workers have teamed up with the Free and Fair Markets Initiative to create a hotline to report unsafe working conditions.
The Free and Fair Markets Initiative is a nonprofit watchdog group advocating for labor rights. It was founded specifically to scrutinize Amazon’s “harmful practices.”
Along with former Amazon employees, the group set up a hotline for workers to report hazards like dangerous machinery, extreme heat, injuries and other unfair and unsafe conditions. The page announcing the creation of the hotline says it is designed to help injured employees neglected by Amazon to get the aid they need. The page provides both a number to call and a form to fill out. It also advises workers on how to file official Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) complaints. It allows workers to bypass taking it up with their company, which helps them avoid a fear of retribution for speaking out.
Accounts of Amazon’s unsafe and, at times, downright abusive working conditions have recently been heavily covered in the media while Amazon’s power, wealth and influence grows. This year’s Prime Day bringing in a record number of sales, even with widespread worker strikes and supporter protests throughout the world.
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For the past two years, Amazon has been listed on the National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (COSH)’s “Dirty Dozen” report, which compiles data on factors like worker de