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Sat Jun 14, 2014, 06:32 AM Jun 2014

Amazon Worker Issues Mount Amid Labor Department Scrutiny

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2014-06-14/amazon-worker-issues-mount-amid-labor-department-scrutiny.html

Amazon.com Inc. (AMZN)’s labor issues are growing at its sprawling network of fulfillment centers, where it ships everything from books to big-screen televisions.

The U.S. Department of Labor said this week that it’s examining two worker deaths at warehouses operated by the world’s largest online retailer. One man was crushed to death in December 2013 after getting caught between a conveyor system while sorting packages at a facility in Avenel, New Jersey, and another fatality occurred on June 1 at an Amazon fulfillment center in Carlisle, Pennsylvania.

The probes add to labor issues Amazon is facing as Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos spends to open new distribution centers worldwide. The Seattle-based company has faced criticism for treatment of its employees, including from labor unions. Earlier this year, an attempt to form a labor union of Amazon workers at a Middletown, Delaware, center was rejected by workers. Last year, Amazon also grappled with strikes in Germany, as warehouse workers demanded collective wage agreements and increases in minimum pay.

Amazon has been building more distribution centers to get closer to consumers to help speed delivery of items. As of mid-2013, the company had spent almost $13.9 billion on fulfillment expenses -- including 50 new facilities -- since 2010. Amazon had 89 warehouses at the end of 2012 and had announced five more for the U.S. last year. The centers are in locations from Beijing to across the U.S. in states such as New Hampshire and Indiana.
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