ST. PETERS, Mo. — Amazon workers claim Wednesday is prime time for work action.
They are joined by striking auto workers and formerly striking nurses in a demonstration about work conditions outside the St. Peters Amazon distribution facility at 6 p.m. Wednesday.
It’s no accident Amazon workers chose the two-day "Prime Big Deals Days" to stage this demonstration. They say it is during this sale that they are pushed to the brink trying to fulfill orders and suffer injuries as a result.
Members of the three groups are demanding safer workplaces in response to what they call an “injury crisis” across all three industries.
SSM SLU Hospital nurses will staff a portable clinic for Amazon warehouse workers seeking free advice regarding what they say are their work-related injuries.
In July, Amazon workers at the St. Peters warehouse filed an OSHA complaint about their rates of work and poor ergonomic conditions. They say Amazon's injury rate is twice as high as the rest of the warehouse industry.
“The safety and health of our employees is, and always will be, our top priority, and any claim otherwise is inaccurate," an Amazon spokesperson said in July.
OSHA officials said last year Amazon workers were injured at a rate of 6.9 employees for every 100. Amazon officials say worldwide injury rates dropped nearly 24 percent in a time period that began in 2019.
SLU nurses, who recently went on strike for a new contract, say they experience chronic pain and injuries from short staffing.
"The NNOC has declined to respond or counter our proposals on key wage issues," SSM-SLU Hospital officials said during the nurses' 24-hour strike last month. "Negotiations can only make progress when both sides are motivated and engaged.”
UAW members went on strike on Sept. 15, against Ford, GM and Jeep-maker Stellantis, demanding wage increases and an end to the tiered wage system. The automakers say that have made “reasonable counter offers.”