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A Seattle-based Amazon employee spoke up for workers' rights. Then, she was fired


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As the novel coronavirus pandemic spread across the country, Amazon painted a positive picture of its warehouse conditions, praising its works as heroes.

But Maren Costa, a former principal user experience designer at Amazon, said when she heard from those actually working in Amazon warehouses, the story was different. Workers were scared. They didn't feel there was enough being done to keep them safe.

Something didn't add up. And top level executives at Amazon, she said, didn't seem to be listening.

"Why wouldn't you take that information from your own workers you call heroes?" Costa said. "Why wouldn't you take that criticism as an opportunity? Why wouldn't you do everything you possibly could to listen to that feedback?"

She and Emily Cunningham, two vocal members of the group Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, set up a conversation between tech workers and warehouse workers. On April 10, a member of the group sent out an invitation for the virtual event.

About two hours later, after about 1,500 people had responded to the invitation, Costa and Cunningham were fired and the invite was erased from everybody's calendars. Costa said Amazon fired her for violating the company’s no solicitation policy after she circulated an internal email outlining concerns from warehouse workers. The email also included a link to a petition to support workers demands for paid sick leave, hazard pay and other benefits.

Amazon said the company fired Costa and Cunningham for violating internal policies.

Costa had worked at Amazon for 15 years.

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Since the start of the pandemic, reports of conditions in warehouses, a number of confirmed cases and even several deaths due the coronavirus have raised concerns.

These have catalyzed protests across the country, where workers have spoken about what they feel is ultimately a lack of safety measures to help combat the spread of COVID-19 in warehouses. Groups have also demanded benefits, including hazard pay, paid sick leave and health insurance.

In March, Chris Smalls, a former warehouse worker in Staten Island, said he was fired after he organized a protest at his warehouse asking that the company shut down the facility to clean and sanitize it after an employee tested positive for the virus.

Amazon has said he was fired for violating social distancing guidelines, and because he came onsite when he was supposed to be quarantining after coming into contact with a person with the virus.

Another warehouse worker, Bashir Mohamed, said he was fired after expressing concern over the ability to follow social distancing guidelines while working in the warehouse.

Amazon said Mohamed was fired after violating social distancing guidelines and engaging in inappropriate language and behavior.

Amazon has not confirmed the number of coronavirus cases or deaths among warehouse workers. A tracking tool launched earlier this month by United for Respect lets people report cases of the coronavirus in warehouses, and records information such as whether a facility was closed for cleaning after a positive case.

In March, Amazon wrote in a post on its blog the health and safety of its workers was the company's "top concern."

The company said between April and June, it expected to invest about $4 billion on "COVID-related initiatives to get products to customers and keep employees safe." Part of that investment included getting personal protection equipment for workers, upping its cleaning protocols, creating setups that allowed for social distancing, adding handwashing stations and getting thousands of thermometers, according to the blog post.

The company also said it was increasing pay for certain jobs and implementing paid sick leave for employees with the virus.

Earlier this month, when talking about the company's quarterly earnings, CEO Jeff Bezos again detailed the company's commitment to its workers.

“Under normal circumstances, in this coming Q2, we’d expect to make some $4 billion or more in operating profit,” Bezos said. “But these aren’t normal circumstances. Instead, we expect to spend the entirety of that $4 billion, and perhaps a bit more, on Covid-related expenses, getting products to customers, and keeping employees safe.”

Still, the wave of firings has set off a chain of events that has reached the levels of the U.S. Senate.

Tim Bray, a vice president and Distinguished Engineer at Amazon Web Services, quit earlier this month, pointing to Costa and Cunningham, as well as Smalls, writing in a blog post the firings were "evidence of a vein of toxicity running through the company culture." He acknowledged Amazon was doing more to ensure worker safety at its warehouses, but, he said, he believes the worker testimony, too.

"And at the end of the day, the big problem isn’t the specifics of Covid-19 response," he wrote. "It’s that Amazon treats the humans in the warehouses as fungible units of pick-and-pack potential. Only that’s not just Amazon, it’s how 21st-century capitalism is done."

Costa said she applauded Bray for his "conviction and dedication to his own integrity."

"It's a very hard decision to make to leave a job, especially a job that you love, when you realize that it conflicts with your values," she said. "It makes me happy to know that there are people in the upper echelons of Amazon who still have a compassionate conscience."

Last week, a group of senators including Sens. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) and Cory Booker (D-N.J.) wrote an open letter to Bezos, demanding he provide information on Amazon's "policies for discipline and termination regarding workers who raise health and safety concerns."

An Amazon spokesperson in a statement defended the company’s decisions.

“These individuals were not terminated for talking publicly about working conditions or safety, but rather, for violating—often repeatedly—policies, such as intimidation, physical distancing and more," an Amazon spokesperson said in an email. "We support every employees’ right to criticize or protest their employer’s working conditions, but that does not come with blanket immunity against any and all internal policies. We look forward to explaining in more detail in our response to the Senators’ letter.”

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Costa said what Amazon has become isn't the company she thought she joined in 2002, when she was excited to work for a place whose values she thought aligned with a lot of her own. She's always been an activist, and she thought the company was a great platform where she could make the world better.

But over the years, she said, she became "troubled" about how much her values seemed to differ from those of the company. She has two kids, ages 12 and 13, and she started to fight for climate change for them.

"If you're paying attention at all, you know the future does not look bright for those kids," she said. "And I just felt like I needed to do everything that I could to fight climate change."

She wanted to try to work within Amazon to help the company become a leader on the issue. But instead, she said, she ran into dead ends.

Something clicked one day when she went to a happy hour with friends and they pressed her on Amazon's values.

"I actually cried," she said, "And I kind of reached this point, I have to do something or quit, I can't keep standing by and accepting the unacceptable."

So she connected with Cunningham, and the group, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, began to work to get Amazon to make promises in response to its impact on climate change. The group started by filing a shareholder resolution asking Amazon to be a climate leader, and had thousands of employees sign onto an open letter to Bezos. At that time, Costa said she gave a quote to a reporter, and was told she had violated the external communications policy at the company. She was warned she could be fired if it happened again.

"But we continued to fight," she said.

Shortly before a planned walkout to protest the company not taking action on the issue, Amazon announced the climate pledge, "a commitment to meet the Paris Agreement 10 years early." It was a win, but still didn't go far enough.

Costa saw what could happen when people came together to fight for change.

When Costa started to hear stories of warehouse conditions during the pandemic, she didn't hesitate to try to give workers a platform to share.

Costa called Amazon's decision to fire her and Cunningham an attempt to silence and censure. Amazon has said the firings were not in response to her being a vocal leader on these issues.

"People are scared," Costa said. "This type of firing and silencing behavior has a chilling effect on people."

Since she was fired, people have been reaching out to her asking how they can help. But not everyone is in a situation where they can take such a vocal stance.

"I knew I was taking risks and I was OK with that. I was not fooling myself about that," she said. "I have no regrets about that."

She said Amazon has been rolling out improvements in its warehouses, but its efforts throughout the pandemic have reflected a company that values profits over people.

Now, she's again trying to channel all of her energy into fighting climate change, whether that's continuing to work with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, or another forum.

"I can't stop and I won't stop. I will do everything I can," she said."I need to look my kids in the eyes 20 years from now, and I won't be able to do that if I'm not able to say I did everything I could."

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