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More Fresno Amazon employees test positive for coronavirus
Another employee at Fresno’s Amazon warehouse has tested positive for COVID-19, at least the fifth worker who has contracted the virus in the south Fresno facility.
In a text message to employees late Tuesday, Amazon said the employee had not been at work since May 9.
“We continue to take measures to keep you safe: implementing mandatory social distancing, requiring all to wear a face covering, conducting temperature checks, and doing more frequent cleanings,” the text message reads.
The company notified employees of additional cases on April 8, May 5, May 8, and May 14. The Fresno Bee corroborated with screenshots of messages from the company to four employees. Amazon has said they notify employees of positive cases as soon as they learn of them.
Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said the company planned to invest approximately $4 billion from April to June on coronavirus safety precautions. Those include “investments in personal protective equipment, enhanced cleaning of our facilities, less efficient process paths that better allow for effective social distancing, higher wages for hourly teams, and developing our own COVID-19 testing capabilities.”
Since the start of the coronavirus outbreak, the Fresno warehouse has hired more than 1,200 new employees, the company told The Bee.
Amazon increased pay for hourly employees by $2 per hour in the U.S. and doubled the regular hourly base pay for every overtime hour worked.
Workers expressed frustration at the growing number of cases, despite Amazon’s increased safety measures.
“We are told we are heroes, yet we don’t feel like them, the way we are forced back to work,” said one picker, who asked to remain anonymous over fear of losing his job. “Does the sake of customer satisfaction matter more than an employee’s health?”
Amazon has told workers to stay home if they feel ill. But unlike in April, when unpaid time off was unlimited, employees can now be penalized for taking off time they have not accrued. Employees have said if they dig into hours they don’t have, even if they are unpaid, they can be up for termination.
“If we are sick, we end up using our own time for the price,” the picker said. “I know some people that come in sick and still work due to being scared to lose their jobs and also because they don’t have enough time to cover their shifts.”
The company checks everyone’s temperatures as they enter, but other symptoms of COVID-19 are screened with a questionnaire, another employee explained.
“The thing is, they ask us if we have symptoms related to COVID-19, in which anyone can deny all symptoms and possibly still be a carrier,” she said.
The worker lives with her mother, who suffers from a compromised immune system, and her kids.
“Each day I go into work, I’m not only putting my health at risk but my loved ones at risk as well,” she said.
If an employee doesn’t have the time to take off, they can apply for a leave of absence, as one employee who spoke to The Bee on the condition of anonymity said. But that can also take an overwhelming toll on people’s finances.
“I’m losing out on so much money,” she said. “This is ridiculous. Why can’t they just close down the building and clean it down good? Because apparently staying six feet apart, wearing gloves, and wearing masks aren’t helping anything. There are still people getting the virus.”
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