N.Y. must create safer workplaces at warehouses

Amazon’s holiday catalog has hit mailboxes and children are circling toys that will arrive in boxes bigger than them — some even bigger than the workers who packed them for delivery. Warehouse workers are already feeling the pain having survived Amazon Prime’s two-day shopping palooza, which puts them under significant physical, mental, and emotional stress to get a rush of packages out in record time.

Gov. Hochul can help alleviate this in part for Amazon workers by signing the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act, which was passed earlier this year. We need her to lead the way just as she has before for warehouse workers. New York can alleviate so much pain for workers by implementing this simple law.

As the leaders of two unions that have been standing up to Amazon and holding the company accountable, we’ve worked together to improve conditions here in New York’s warehouses.

Last year we secured the first step toward changing working conditions for Amazon workers, the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, which creates transparency and protects workers from excessive quotas and ensures they have access to fair breaks. This law made New York a leader in warehouse worker safety, and now it must lead the way again. Even with quotas transparent and limited, workers still experience injury due to workplace design and layout, which can be simply prevented under this new legislation.

Every year it gets worse and worse for workers as more and more of our day-to-day shopping happens online. In fact, warehouse workers, who are predominantly workers of color, are injured more frequently than workers in any other industry in New York State.

The numbers don’t lie: in New York, warehouse workers are in the midst of a health and safety crisis. 1 in 11 warehouse workers are injured every year — an injury rate that is 54% higher than the national average. The number is growing rapidly, and the injury rate is now more than double what it was just a few short years ago in 2017, and more severe as well, with the share of injuries requiring missed days of work or job transfer now at 89%, up from 60% in 2017.

And in Amazon warehouses, which represents about a quarter of the warehousing and logistics industry in New York, the problem is even worse, with Amazon workers experiencing on-the-job injuries 37% more often than the average warehouse worker. It doesn’t have to be this way: there is a common-sense solution currently sitting on the governor’s desk.

Shockingly, there is no state or federal law that requires employers like Amazon to pay any attention to how they set up their workplaces with any intention to prevent worker injuries. In some cases, the adjustments that can be made are minor to the company, but would make a world of difference to workers at the station.

The Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act would change the game for warehouse workers in New York — and it’s urgently needed now. This landmark bill, cosponsored by state Sen. Jessica Ramos and Assemblymember Harry Bronson, would require annual evaluations of warehouses by certified safety experts known as ergonomists — and require employers to implement plans to fix any identified hazards in order to reduce injuries including assessment for potential risks of musculoskeletal disorders — the most frequent serious debilitating injury found among workers in the warehousing industry.

Hochul led the way when she signed the Warehouse Worker Protection Act into law in 2022, requiring transparency from companies like Amazon over work speed quotas. The Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act would close the remaining gap, ensuring that the very design and layout of each warehouse is up to ergonomic standards to begin with, and creating safer, more sustainable jobs with lower turnover rates. These simple adjustments would prevent and reduce injury due to stressful posture and equipment positioning.

This holiday shopping season, warehouse workers in New York will ship everything from tiny parcels of dolls and yo-yos to heavy back-breaking boxes of bikes and playsets. Regardless of size, they’ll be moving injury inducing parcels by the millions through every conveyor belt of a warehouse all the way to your home.

Warehousing is one of the fastest growing industries in our state. Every day without the necessary ergonomic standards for warehouse workers is another day that Amazon workers will experience completely preventable injuries. Governor, we urge you to sign the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act swiftly into law — Amazon workers can’t wait.

Appelbaum is president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Spence is president of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU).