Amazon faces lawsuit alleging failure to provide PPE to workers during pandemic

Christian Smalls, a former Amazon warehouse employee, filed a lawsuit against the company today alleging Amazon failed to provide personal protective equipment to Black and Latinx workers during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The class action suit alleges Amazon failed to properly protect its warehouse workers and violated elements of New York City’s human rights law, as well as federal and state laws.

“I was a loyal worker and gave my all to Amazon until I was unceremoniously terminated and tossed aside like yesterday’s trash because I insisted that Amazon protect its dedicated workers from COVID-19,” Smalls said in a statement. “I just wanted Amazon to provide basic protective gear to the workers and sanitize the workplace.”

Today I filed a Class Action lawsuit in the state of NY on behalf of all @Amazon employees and all essential workers that was unprotected all across the world during this pandemic. as I said in the beginning it’s not Amazon vs Chris Smalls it’s Amazon vs the People @JeffBezos

— Christian Smalls (@Shut_downAmazon) November 12, 2020

Amazon did not specifically comment on the lawsuit but said it stands in solidarity with Black employees, customers and its partners.

“Amazon’s mission is to be the earth’s most customer-centric company, and this mission is central to our work in diversity and inclusion,” Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski told TechCrunch. “Diverse teams help us think bigger, and differently, about the products and services that we build for our customers and the day-to-day nature of our workplace – this is reinforced within our 14 Leadership Principles, which remind team members to seek diverse perspectives, learn and be curious, and constantly earn others’ trust.”

The lawsuit suit has support from Rev. Jesse Jackson, who said he stands in solidarity with Smalls and other Amazon warehouse workers.

“COVID-19 has disproportionately impacted Black and Brown communities on so many levels, from warehouses to jailhouses,” Rev. Jackson said in a statement. “It’s an invisible enemy that is killing our communities. Chris ‘case is a classic example of how corporate greed and insensitivity can literally expose communities to untold and unnecessary risks.”

Smalls was fired from Amazon in March after organizing a walkout at one of the company’s fulfillment centers in Staten Island. As a result, New York’s attorney general is investigating if Amazon violated federal worker safety laws and New York state’s whistleblower protections laws by firing Smalls.

Smalls’ termination helped galvanize other warehouse workers who later organized formed an international organization to demand change inside Amazon’s warehouses. Organizers pointed to worker retaliation as one of the driving factors for the formation of Amazon Workers International. Meanwhile, Amazon executives reportedly discussed discrediting Smalls and making him the face of the organizing movement.

An Amazon spokesperson previously told TechCrunch the company did not fire Smalls for organizing a protest. Instead, Amazon said it fired him for “putting the health and safety of others at risk and violations of his terms of employment.”

“Mr. Smalls received multiple warnings for violating social distancing guidelines,” the spokesperson said. “He was also found to have had close contact with a diagnosed associate with a confirmed case of COVID-19 and was asked to remain home with pay for 14-days, which is a measure we’re taking at sites around the world. Despite that instruction to stay home with pay, he came onsite further putting the teams at risk.”

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2020/11/12/amazon-faces-lawsuit-alleging-failure-to-provide-ppe-to-workers-during-pandemic/

Human Capital: Coinbase and Clubhouse aside, Ethel’s Club founder wants to take us ‘Somewhere Good’

Welcome back to Human Capital, a weekly digest about diversity, inclusion and the human labor that powers tech.

This week, we’re looking at a number of topics because a lot went down. Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong took a controversial stance on social, Clubhouse found itself under scrutiny again, but this time around anti-Semitism and a new site launched that sheds light on some of the negative experiences of underrepresented people in tech. Meanwhile, the founder from Ethel’s Club unveiled Somewhere Good, which aims to provide a safe social platform for people of color. The timing couldn’t be better.

Human Capital launches as a newsletter on Friday, October 23. Be sure to sign up here to get it sent straight to your inbox. 

---

Stay Woke

---

Coinbase CEO’s stance on societal issues stirs up controversy 

Over the weekend, Coinbase CEO Brian Armstrong said the company does not engage on border societal issues when they are not related to its core mission. On political causes, Armstrong said Coinbase also does not advocate for any causes or candidates that are not related to its mission “because it is a distraction from our mission.” In that Medium post, Armstrong recognized that some employees may disagree and even resign. 

A couple of days later, Armstrong began offering employees who don’t feel comfortable with the direction of the company a severance package, The Block Crypto reported. 

“It’s always sad when we see teammates go, but it can also be what is best for them and the company,” Armstrong wrote in an internal memo. “As I said in my blog post, life is too short to work a company that you aren’t excited about.”

It’s quite a statement to make just weeks away from a very important presidential election. But Armstrong’s justification seems to be that he doesn’t want the internal strife that has happened at companies like Google and Facebook to happen at Coinbase. 

Obviously, people have feelings and thoughts about Armstrong’s stance. One on side, there’s Y Combinator Founder Paul Graham saying Coinbase will push away the “aggressively conventional-minded” people but that those types of people “tend not to be good at building things anyway.”

And on another side, there’s Twitter CEO Jack Dorsey pointing out how Armstrong’s stance leaves people behind. 

#Bitcoin (aka “crypto”) is direct activism against an unverifiable and exclusionary financial system which negatively affects so much of our society. Important to at *least* acknowledge and connect the related societal issues your customers face daily. This leaves people behind: https://t.co/0LMlF1qcmG

— jack (@jack) September 30, 2020

Then, there’s also confusion around how Armstrong could say that Black lives matter in June and then go on to say that workers essentially need to leave their politics and beliefs that don’t relate to work at home. Well, GitHub Director of Engineering Erica Baker tweeted that someone probably forced Armstrong’s hand into speaking out about Black lives. 

so tl;dr

coinbase engineers walked off because brian wouldn't say "Black Lives Matter," he posted it so they'd get back to work, now he's having an executive "YOU AREN'T THE BOSS OF ME!" meltdown* about it.

*executive meltdowns come in many flavors pic.twitter.com/tSYNmeOVTf

— EricaJoy (@EricaJoy) September 29, 2020

The latest Clubhouse drama

The invitation-only audio social app was home to a discussion titled, “Anti-Semitism and Black Culture” this week. During the discussion, someone reportedly said Black and Jewish communities differ because of their relationship to economic advancement, Bloomberg reported. In response, another person reportedly said, “The Jewish community does business with their enemies; the Black community is enslaved by their enemies” — to which some people pushed back, saying it perpetuates a harmful stereotype about Jewish people.

I apologize to anyone who felt threatened or harmed by anything said in the CH room I started tonight. I had no intention of negativity.

— ashoka finley (@lifesupremacist) September 29, 2020

Ethel’s Club founder teases Somewhere Good, a digital space that centers people of color

Amid private social app Clubhouse finding itself again under heavy scrutiny, there perhaps is no better time for the emergence of a platform that provides a safe space for people of color.

Naj Austin, founder and CEO of subscription-based physical and digital community Ethel’s Club, is building Somewhere Good to be a one-stop shop for people of color. Beyond being a place for people of color to connect, it’s also about creating a safe space for folks to be their authentic selves.

“A lot of how we’re talking about Somewhere Good with investors is this idea of a new online world where our identities are centered,” Austin told me. “The vision for Somewhere Good is you take your phone out of your pocket and, as a Black person or person of color, all of your needs are met there in that one place.”

Greylock teams up with Management Leadership for Tomorrow to diversify tech’s wealth cycle

Greylock is one of a number of VC firms that have kicked into action following the police killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and other unarmed Black people and people of color. The multi-pronged partnership will enable Greylock to tap into MLT’s network of around 8,000 Black, Latinx and Indigenous professionals and connect them with potential roles at the firm’s portfolio companies. Additionally, Greylock and MLT will work together to support retention at those companies, as well as help MLT professionals pursue careers in venture capital.

“And look, VCs and tech startups — we just have to be honest that we’ve been really bad at getting this right,” Greylock Partner David Sze told TechCrunch. “Historically, I mean, we’ve let the system sort of evolve without much top down oversight in regards of diversity and inclusion and we just really need to change that.”

Twitter releases latest diversity report

Twitter’s most recent diversity report showed that the company has done an okay job of increasing representation of Black employees at its company since 2017. In 2017, Twitter was just 3.4% Black and in August 2020, Twitter was 6.3% Black.

Image Credits: Twitter

By 2025, Twitter aims for at least 25% of its workforce to be underrepresented minorities, and at least 10% of that overall 25% to be Black. Overall, Twitter is 41.4% white, 28.4% Asian, 5.2% Latinx, 3.7% multi-racial and less than 1% Indigenous. 

Twitter’s technical team is also mostly white (41.4%) so perhaps it’s no wonder why Twitter has had some algorithmic bias issues. 

DiscoTech highlights diversity issues in tech

A new site popped up that details the discrimination people experience in tech. The folks behind DiscoTech describe themselves as “a diverse group of cross-tech organizers who are committed to ending discrimination in the workplace.”

The posted experiences — all anonymous — describe sexism, racism, ageism, sexual harassment and assault, weight discrimination, suicide and mental illness. Here are a few stories that jumped out:

On being a woman in tech:

After introducing myself to a peer at a social gathering, I was asked if I had ‘come to Microsoft to find a husband?’ The blatant question left me speechless, and I was shocked by his total disregard for my professional aspirations. My friend overheard and she quickly asked if he would pose the same question to a man, asking if he’d ‘come to Microsoft to find a partner?’ He got defensive and denied his originally offensive inquiry.

On being underpaid in tech:

This event happened prior to my joining the team, but I didn’t find out about it until years later.  The hiring manager bragged openly about how ‘little’ she hired me for while I was desperately leaving a toxic work environment. I pushed back, she was persistent and being afraid of losing the offer I took it. I ended up leaving the position for a job that paid market value. Irony.

On being a Black woman in tech:

I’m not sure where to begin with the amount of discomfort I’ve experienced in the work place. As a Black, woman in tech I’m all too familiar with being an extreme minority. I guess you could say my discomfort began at the beginning of my professional career. I accepted a position at my company in a 6 month training program for recent college graduates. Upon arrival at orientation I realized I was the only Black woman out of 70 participants. 70 other co-workers and I was the only one. I felt completely alone and as if I had no one who could relate to my unique experience. From there, it was small incident after small incident that caused my discomfort to grow. From my technical trainer referring to me as Sheba, as in the Queen of Sheba, in the middle of a training session to my colleagues constantly questioning my intelligence, work became a stressful environment. It didn’t help that when I tried to reach out throughout the company for assistance with existing in the workplace, I was often told to keep to myself and try my best to ‘fit in.’ It took me a while to find a support system but I’m glad I finally did because the amount of microaggressions I face on daily basis is often overwhelming.

---

Labor Organizing

---

Shipt shoppers protest new pay model

Shipt shoppers are organizing a handful of actions in protest of Shipt’s new pay structure that began rolling out this month. The first action is happening from Saturday, Oct. 17 through Oct. 19, when workers are calling on their fellow Shipt shoppers to walk out and boycott the company. Organizers are asking for shoppers not to schedule any hours or accept any orders during that time.

“Our goal is to draw attention to the fact that this pay scale really does affect shoppers and regardless of Shipt’s position of it taking into account effort and benefitting shoppers, we are finding it is the opposite on both fronts,” Willy Solis, a Shipt shopper in Dallas and lead organizer at Gig Workers Collective, told TechCrunch. “It’s not holding up to the true reality. We are getting paid less for more effort.”

Spin workers ratify first union contract

A group of 40 workers at Ford-owned Spin ratified their first union contract with Teamsters Local 665 this week. The group of workers consists of shift leads, maintenance specialists, operations specialists, community ambassadors, and scooter deployers and collectors.

“This new contract gives us job security and immediate money up front, with guaranteed increases each year going forward. We also got holiday pay and vacation, which we didn’t have before we organized,” Spin worker Shamar Bell said in a statement. “All this means a lot during the pandemic. We know our union will have our back if our boss or the city government tries to make changes. I can say for sure, we’re proud to be Teamsters.”

As part of the three-year agreement, Spin workers will get annual pay raises of more than 3% each year, six paid holidays (compared to zero holidays), vacation days based on years of employment (compared to no vacation days), five sick days a year, a $1,200 per employee ratification bonus, benefits accrual for part-time workers and other benefits.

---

In Other News

---

• Serious injuries at Amazon fulfillment centers topped 14,000, despite the company’s safety claims – TechCrunch
• Lack of oversight and transparency leave Amazon employees in the dark on Covid-19 – NBC News
• Newsom signs law mandating more diversity in California corporate boardrooms – The Los Angeles Times
• Bird Is Quietly Luring Contract Workers Into Debt Through a New Scooter Scheme – OneZero
• AOC flagged ‘material risks’ to Palantir investors in letter to SEC

By the way, TechCrunch Sessions: Mobility is coming up next week. Since you made it to the end of this, here’s a 50% off code for you to get full access to the event. This code will get you into the expo and breakout sessions for free.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2020/10/02/human-capital-coinbase-and-clubhouse-aside-ethels-club-founder-wants-to-take-us-somewhere-good/

Tech Is Not Neutral campaign urges companies to stop working with law enforcement agencies

There are a number of tech companies that either directly work with law enforcement agencies, or supply their tech to them. Amazon’s doorbell camera company Ring has partnered with more than 1,300 police departments and Amazon Web Services sells its product to U.S. Immigration and Customers Enforcement. Meanwhile, Google sells its G Suite tools to police departments, Microsoft has contracts in place with Seattle police and Microsoft-owned GitHub also has partnerships in place with ICE. There’s also Nextdoor, which partners with police departments through its Agencies app.

It’s partnerships like those that have prompted the creation of the Tech Is Not Neutral campaign, which is spearheaded by Kairos Fellowship in partnership with The Movement for Black Lives, Media Justice and others.

“Seeing how tech companies were responding to the uprising for Black liberation and the Black Lives Matter movement — there were a bunch of CEOs saying Black Lives Matter or making whatever statement, but we have seen how tech companies interplay with our lives and our democracy,” Kairos Fellowship campaign manager Jelani Drew-Davi told TechCrunch. “Tech companies’ products have real-life consequences for people, and for Black and people of color, we are the ones most affected by technology when it doesn’t work for us. This campaign’s aim is to make it work for us.”

The campaign kicked off in early July with an open letter written to big tech CEOs. The letter, addressed to leaders at Amazon, Microsoft, Nextdoor and Google, urges them to take action for Black lives. But the campaign’s main focus right now is on Nextdoor and Microsoft, Drew-Davi said. In June, Nextdoor turned off its feature that allows people to forward information to police, but the folks at the Tech Is Not Neutral campaign say more needs to be done.

“Nextdoor connects thousands of people in neighborhoods and they’ve had a super well-documented racism problem for years,” Drew-Davi said. “That, combined with partnerships with police, gives people this one-way street for reporting Black people to police. That’s a problem. The response from Nextdoor has been we’ll train moderators, but they have not said we’ll cut ties with police, which is the number one thing they could do to protect Black people on their platform.”

With Microsoft, in addition to contracts with Seattle’s police department, the company is also battling for a $10 billion contract with the U.S. Department of Defense. Meanwhile, Microsoft has had more than 5,000 subcontracts with the DoD and other law enforcement agencies since 2016.

“Microsoft has been so deeply intertwined with our government and policing around the country on local state and federal levels and they’re quiet about it,” Drew-Davi said. “And we didn’t know about it until that article came out. Microsoft is an important company to watch. The more we can uncover this and shine a spotlight on Microsoft, the more people recognize what these household names are doing that harm us.”

The immediate next steps for the campaign are to pursue conversations with these companies, come up with specific demands and escalate them, if companies don’t agree to them, Kairos Fellowship executive director Mariana Ruiz Firmat told TechCrunch.

“This feels so important to us because it’s often the idea of neutral that tech company’s hide behind to allow racism and their platforms to be used in ways that spread authoritarianism or disrupt our democracy,” Firmat said. “It’s a long-term battle but we want to change the way in which we understand the role of tech companies and change the idea of neutral to being biased.”

Microsoft declined to comment for this story, and Nextdoor, Google and Amazon did not respond to our request for comment.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/20/tech-is-not-neutral-campaign-urges-companies-to-stop-working-with-law-enforcement-agencies/

Tech at Work: Amazon caravan protest, Genderify’s algorithmic bias and using ‘BIPOC’

Welcome back to Tech at Work, where we look at labor, diversity and inclusion. Given the amount of activity in this space, we’re going to ramp this up from bi-weekly to weekly.

This week, we’re looking at the latest action from a group of Amazon warehouse workers in the San Francisco Bay Area, how to avoid Genderify’s massive algorithmic bias fail and the rise of the use of BIPOC, which stands for Black, Indigenous and people of color, and how to properly use the term.

---

Stay woke

---

Amazon warehouse workers stage sunrise action

Amazon delivery drivers in the San Francisco Bay Area are kicking off the month by protesting the e-commerce giant’s labor practices related to the COVID-19 pandemic. As part of a caravan, workers plan to head to Amazon’s San Leandro warehouse this morning to pressure the company to shut down the facility for a thorough cleaning.

“They are having COVID cases reported and they’re not being truthful about how many, and they’re not being reported right away,” Amazon worker Adrienne Williams told TechCrunch. “We’re seeing this pattern of Amazon finding out and then not telling people for two weeks so they don’t have to pay anyone.”

Join us as we deliver a petition demanding Amazon shut down DSF4 for deep cleaning in defense of Black and Latinx lives. Systemic racism has led to BIPOC folks being most impacted by COVID. Solidarity with our communities means protecting us from it.https://t.co/Gt7bxTI8l1 pic.twitter.com/yPuJP7hAG1

— Bay Area Amazonians (@AmazonArea) July 27, 2020

In a statement to TechCrunch, Amazon said:

Nothing is more important than health and well-being of our employees, and we are doing everything we can to keep them as safe as possible. We’ve invested over $800 million in the first half of this year implementing 150 significant process changes on COVID-19 safety measures by purchasing items like masks, hand sanitizer, thermal cameras, thermometers, sanitizing wipes, gloves, additional handwashing stations, and adding disinfectant spraying in buildings, procuring COVID testing supplies, and additional janitorial teams.

In addition to shutting down the warehouse for sanitizing, workers are asking for better communication.

“The drivers have no idea if there are ever any cases because we don’t have access to the internal warehouse A to Z communications they have,” Williams, who works at the Richmond warehouse, said. “So we never get the alerts if there are COVID cases. We’re not on that internal communication but we go in those warehouses twice a day to get our shifts and packages.”

Because drivers are generally employed by delivery service partners, Amazon says it does not have direct communication with them. However, Amazon says it immediately notifies the delivery service partner who then communicates with the drivers.

By staging the action so early, the hope is to prevent workers from being able to load delivery vehicles, Williams said.

“If the vans are left in the warehouse, Jeff Bezos takes the financial hit,” she said. “Halting deliveries and keeping them in the warehouse means Amazon gets hit with the bill.”

Lesson for startups: Treat all of your workers with dignity and respect.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2020/08/01/amazon-workers-stage-caravan-protest-genderifys-algorithmic-bias-issue-and-bipoc/

Amazon worker-activists form international organization to demand change in warehouses

Amazon workers across the world are formalizing their activism with the creation of the Amazon Workers International. Its first action is a letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and Amazon Director of UK Customer Fulfillment Stefano Perego in which the group demands the company makes permanent certain steps Amazon has implemented amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

In light of the global health crisis, Amazon made some positive changes — changes that workers want to ensure stay long beyond the pandemic. Those changes include an increase of $2 per hour and an extra five minutes’ worth of break time. The company also got rid of productivity feedback, which incentivizes workers to do more, faster.

“They’re talking about taking that away,” Christian Zammarròn, an Amazon warehouse worker in Chicago, told TechCrunch. “I don’t think they should take it away. These are things we need not just during a pandemic but all the time.”

As of April 24, Amazon said it would extend the increased hourly pay through May 16.

“We’ve extended the increased hourly pay through May 16,” Amazon spokesperson Lisa Levandowski told TechCrunch. “We are also extending double overtime pay in the U.S. and Canada. These extensions increase our total investment in pay during COVID-19 to nearly $700 million for our hourly employees and partners. In addition, we are providing flexibility with leave of absence options, including expanding the policy to cover COVID-19 circumstances, such as high-risk individuals or school closures. We continue to see heavy demand during this difficult time and the team is doing incredible work for our customers and the community.”

Amazon Workers International formed after about 40 Amazon warehouse workers around the world gathered in Madrid a couple of months ago. The organization represents Amazon workers from six countries: Germany, Poland, Spain, France, Slovakia and the United States.

“Each country has its own laws but from our conversations at our convenings, we just see that we all have basically the same issues, Zammarròn said. “In Europe, especially, they’ve seen the necessity for international solidarity and how that makes them stronger.”

While Zammarròn’s list of grievances with Amazon is long, what tops his list is retaliation.

“That needs to end,” he said.

Toward the end of March, warehouse workers in Chicago went on a number of safety strikes in “response to Amazon’s complete disregard for our lives with positive COVID-19 cases spreading through our warehouse,” Zammarròn, who helped organize the actions in Chicago, said. “They’ve been retaliating these past weeks trying to scare us and trying to shut us up. We’ve been fighting back.”

In March, Amazon fired worker-activist Chris Smalls, who helped organize a protest at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York. NY Attorney General Leticia James has since said she’s considering taking legal action against Amazon. Then, more recently, a group of Amazon workers at a fulfillment center in Minnesota protested the firing of a worker who stayed home for fear of giving her kids COVID-19. Shortly after the protest, Amazon reinstated the worker.

Already, Amazon warehouse workers have filed unfair labor practice charges and have more on the way, Zammarròn said. Still, he said he’s already seen Amazon change a lot of safety policies. Amazon started providing masks, taking temperatures and providing hand sanitizer and disinfectant wipes.

“And maybe the biggest thing they did was they slowed down the work,” he said. “They decreased the amount of work so that actually helps in maintaining some social distancing. And these were immediate changes after our safety strikes. Before that, they were basically operating as if everything was normal.”

But workers still want to make it known that their coworkers are continuing to get sick. In the letter, workers say Amazon lacks in the transparency department. Amazon, however, maintains that when it confirms a case of COVID-19 among workers, it communicates that to other people who work at that same site.

This letter of demands is just the first of what we’re seeing from AWI.

“Our international solidarity will definitely grow,” he said. “This is a very important aspect of what we’re doing and what any worker movement should do, which is expressing coordinated international demands and coordinated international actions.”

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/30/amazon-warehouse-worker-activists-form-international-organization-to-demand-change/

Target’s Shipt shoppers are walking off work today

Shipt shoppers, which began organizing in February, are staging their first action today. Yesterday, a group of Shipt shoppers, who shop and deliver orders from Target and other stores, announced their plans to walk off today. The walk-off is in protest of the way Shipt has treated its shoppers amid the COVID-19 pandemic, Vice first reported.

“Unless you get tested for COVID-19 or you’re half dead, Shipt’s not going to care,” Iowa-based Shipt shopper Angie Kufner tells TechCrunch.

Kufner hasn’t been working for the past couple of weeks because she’s been feeling ill, but Shipt has not provided her with sick pay, even though Shipt provides workers diagnosed with COVID-19 up to two weeks worth of sick pay. Kufner’s experience is just one example of why shoppers are demanding the company extend that policy to include those who are immunocompromised or have a note from a doctor telling them to stay home. Currently, Shipt says it determines eligibility for sick pay on a case by case basis.

“I guarantee you there are a lot more people who have felt like crap,” Kufner says. “The stores are totally unsafe. It’s not worth the $6 they’re going to pay you to go in the store.”

In addition to extending the sick pay policy, shoppers at Ship are demanding hazard pay of $5 per order and personal protective equipment for everyone. Additionally, Shipt shoppers are demanding the company reinstate its original transparent pay structure, make tips transparent and stop exploiting new workers.

“To me, they’ve proven it’s profit over people,” Kufner says of Shipt and Target. “They don’t care about shoppers or the customers because at this point they’re putting customers at risk when these shoppers aren’t protected themselves inside the stores. It’s frustrating because Target and Shipt are both making a fortune with all the new customers and all the new orders and they’ve done almost nothing to support the shoppers.”

In an updated blog post yesterday, Shipt said all shoppers will be provided with gloves and a mask within the next two weeks. Shipt says it has also sent its most active shoppers information on how to claim a free kit that includes gloves and hand sanitizer.

“We are so proud of our shopper community and how they’ve responded to the increase in demand and the opportunity to serve their communities,” a Shipt spokesperson said in a statement. “We are focused on supporting them during this time with health and safety precautions, protective equipment and financial assistance. Our shoppers have been delivering record volumes to our members, and they continue to schedule themselves to shop commensurate with what we’ve seen throughout the pandemic.”

Shipt shoppers are the latest gig workers to organize

Prior to the pandemic, Shipt shoppers had begun expressing their dismay toward the company. In January, Shipt started testing a new pay structure where, instead of basing it on cart size, Shipt takes into account the time it takes to complete and deliver an order.

Prior to the changes, shoppers had received a $5 flat rate and 7.5% of the total store receipt, one shopper, who asked to remain anonymous, previously told TechCrunch.

“We are losing money as shoppers at a ridiculous rate,” a shopper from Kalamazoo previously told TechCrunch. “A very good, close friend of mine told me in the three weeks since the new structure was implemented, she has lost the equivalent of a car payment. It is a lot of money. Our best guesstimation is we’re all losing about 30% or more. I did four orders this past weekend, and I lost money on every single one.”

Now, Shipt workers have joined the likes of workers at Instacart, Amazon, Whole Foods and others that are demanding better protections during this global health crisis.

Amid strikes from workers at Instacart, the company began implementing some changes but still has yet to meet all of their demands. A few days ago, Instacart finally began offering shoppers face masks, hand sanitizers and thermometers. One day later, DoorDash said it was investing in getting more personal protective equipment for its delivery workers.

It’s now widely understood that gig workers are providing essential services during these times, as many cities have enacted shelter-in-place ordinances and as vulnerable people are remaining at home in order to reduce their risk of exposure to the virus.

“Shipt has lowered pay, used shoppers vehicles without fuel or maintenance reimbursement, ignored a faulty rating system, and never paid for healthcare or insurance,” one Shipt shopper said in a statement. “Now they are sending shoppers into stores during a pandemic with no pay increase, no PPE and no guidance. Shipt is treating its shoppers as expendable while advertising to customers as a personal concierge service.”

In addition to the walk-off, organizers are calling for customers to boycott the app on Friday, April 10.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2020/04/07/targets-shipt-shoppers-are-walking-off-today/

Amazon warehouse workers are walking out and Whole Foods workers are striking

Amazon, the e-commerce giant that has fared well financially amid the COVID-19 pandemic, is facing a bevy of worker strikes. Today, warehouse workers on Staten Island in New York walked off the job in protest of Amazon’s treatment amid the crisis.

#BREAKING: Over 100 Amazon employees at JFK8 warehouse walk off the job over @amazon’s dangerous response to protect workers from COVID19 in Staten Island.

#AmazonStrike #WhatWeNeed pic.twitter.com/z0mrUWmPfw

— Make the Road NY (@MaketheRoadNY) March 30, 2020

“Like all businesses grappling with the ongoing coronavirus pandemic, we are working hard to keep employees safe while serving communities and the most vulnerable,” an Amazon spokesperson told TechCrunch. “We have taken extreme measures to keep people safe, tripling down on deep cleaning, procuring safety supplies that are available, and changing processes to ensure those in our buildings are keeping safe distances. The truth is the vast majority of employees continue to show up and do the heroic work of delivering for customers every day.”

In solidarity with warehouse workers, tech workers at Amazon are demanding the company provide fully paid family leave for people who miss work, provide fully paid leave to all Amazon workers, close facilities immediately following contamination, ensure full paid leave for workers whose jobs are impacted by such closures and ensure everyone has unlimited time to take care of their health.

“Recognizing the urgency of the moment, tech workers are going beyond asking Amazon to take action and are pledging not to work for Amazon if it fails to act,” the DC Tech Workers Coalition wrote in a petition. “We also pledge to ask organizations in our communities such as universities and conferences to not accept Amazon as a sponsor or participant in events.”

Meanwhile, workers at Whole Foods, which is owned by Amazon, are organizing a “sick out” strike tomorrow to demand better protections on the job, Vice reports.

According to Vice, Whole Foods workers will call in sick tomorrow and demand paid sick leave for those who stay at home or self-quarantine during the pandemic. They will also demand free coronavirus testing for employees and hazard pay.

Led by group Whole Worker, the sick-out was originally planned for May 1, but was moved up in response to reports that workers have started getting sick and testing positive for COVID-19.

“As this situation has progressed, our fundamental needs as workers have become more urgent,” the group wrote on its campaign page. “COVID-19 poses a very real threat to the safety of our workforce and our customers. We cannot wait for politicians, institutions, or our own management to step in to protect us.”

This action will come one day after Instacart workers are refusing to shop and deliver groceries until the company meets their demands. Shoppers’ current demands are offering hazard pay of $5 extra per order, changing the default tip to 10%, and extending the sick pay policy to those who have a doctor’s note for a pre-existing condition that may make them more susceptible to contracting the virus.

“For the sake of public health and worker safety, every non-union grocery worker must speak out,” United Fodo and Commercial Workers International Union President Marc Perrone said in a statement. “If Amazon, Instacart, and Whole Foods are unwilling to do what is right to protect their workers and our communities, the UFCW is ready to listen and do all we can to help protect these brave workers from irresponsible employers who are ignoring the serious threat posed by the rapidly growing coronavirus outbreak.”

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2020/03/30/amazon-warehouse-whole-foods-workers-strike/

Defining micromobility and where it’s going with business and mobility analyst Horace Dediu

Micromobility has taken off over the last couple of years. Between electric bike-share and scooter-share, these vehicles have made their way all over the world. Meanwhile, some of these companies, like Bird and Lime, have already hit unicorn status thanks to massive funding rounds.

Horace Dediu, the well-known industry analyst who coined the term micromobility as it relates to this emerging form of transportation, took some time to chat with TechCrunch ahead of Micromobility Europe, a one-day event focused on all-things micromobility.

We chatted about the origin of the word micromobility, where big tech companies like Apple, Google and Amazon fit into the space, opportunities for developers to build tools and services on top of these vehicles, the opportunity for franchising business models, the potential for micromobility to be bigger than autonomous, and much more.

Here’s a Q&A, which I lightly edited for length and clarity, I did with Dediu ahead of his micromobility conference.

---

Megan Rose Dickey: Hey, Horace. Thanks for taking the time to chat.

Horace Dediu: Hey, no problem. My pleasure.

Rose Dickey: I was hoping to chat with you a bit about micromobility because I know that you have the big conference coming up in Europe, so I figured this would be a good time to touch base with you. I know you’ve been credited with coining the term micromobility as it relates to likes of shared e-bikes and scooters.

So, to kick things off, can you define micromobility?

Dediu: Yes, sure. So, the idea came to me because I actually remembered microcomputing.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2019/10/01/defining-micromobility-and-where-its-going-with-business-and-mobility-analyst-horace-dediu/

On Prime Day, Amazon workers and immigrants rights organizations are protesting

On the start of Amazon’s biggest sales event of the year, Amazon workers and activists are taking to the streets today in protest of the retail giant. Protests are planned for San Francisco, Minnesota, New York, Seattle and other locations across Europe.

The biggest employee-led one is happening in Shakopee, Minn., where Amazon warehouse workers protesting the working conditions, pay, benefits and general culture.

“These workers, primarily Muslim, East African immigrants, want humane working targets to reduce injuries, full-time instead of temporary working status, and fair opportunities for promotions,” a group of Amazon employees advocating for climate justice wrote on Medium a couple of days ago. “These FC workers reached out to us, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), asking for support.”

This is not the first time warehouse workers in Minnesota have organized. In March, workers went on strike for three hours to call for better working conditions. Last year, those same workers demanded more time for prayer and smaller workloads while fasting during Ramadan.

“Amazon workers are sending a powerful message to Jeff Bezos this Prime Day: It’s time to stop putting profits ahead of people,” United Food and Commercial Workers International Union President Marc Perrone said in a statement today. “With the recent move to one-day Prime shipping, Amazon workers are being forced to meet impossible demands at increasingly unsafe speeds.”

Amazon, however, says its critics are “conjuring misinformation to work in their favor,” an Amazon spokesperson said. Amazon says it already offers the things unions are asking for. Last October, Amazon raised the minimum wage for all warehouse workers to $15 an hour for its U.S.-based workers, but many said that was not enough.

“We can only conclude that the people who plan to attend events today are simply not informed,” the spokesperson said. “As a company, we work hard to provide a safe, quality working environment for the 250,000 hourly employees across Amazon’s U.S. facilities.”

The spokesperson went on to describe how its associates are core to its operators and how they regularly encourage friends and family to apply for roles.

“We encourage anyone to compare our pay, benefits, and workplace to other major employers across the country,” the spokesperson said.

In San Francisco, organizers at Bay Resistance are protesting outside one of Amazon’s offices in the city to demand Amazon end its relationship with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The group is also urging Amazon to stop promoting its facial recognition technology, Rekognition, to law enforcement agencies and ICE.

“As we’ve said many times and continue to believe strongly, companies and government organizations need to use existing and new technology responsibly and lawfully,” the Amazon spokesperson said. “There is clearly a need for more clarity from governments on what is acceptable use of AI and ramifications for its misuse, and we’ve provided a proposed legislative framework for this. We remain eager for the government to provide this additional clarity and legislation, and will continue to offer our ideas and specific suggestions.”

To stand in solidarity with Amazon workers, some activists are asking the masses to boycott Amazon, which means no Amazon.com, Amazon Prime Video, Whole Foods, Kindle, Audible, Book Depository, Twitch, IMDb, AWS, Goodreads and Comixology.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2019/07/15/amazon-prime-day-protest/

Uber’s annual flying taxi summit reveals Uber Air has a ways to go

Flying taxis are undoubtedly an exciting concept — one that Uber has put a lot of work into making a reality. In order to these electric vertical take-off and landing vehicles to become a reality, they need to have proper batteries, approval from the Federal Aviation Administration, buy-in from cities, public acceptance and, of course, vehicle partners.

Uber is aiming to start testing these aircrafts next year, and wants to commercially deploy Uber Air in Los Angeles, Calif., Dallas-Fort Worth/Frisco, Texas and Melbourne, Australia in 2023.

Right now, the model of Uber Air we may see in the skies will have a pilot on board. The model Uber unveiled at Elevate seats four people and one pilot.

[gallery ids="1841841,1841842,1841843,1841851"]

But there are a lot of moving parts, and the more moving parts there are means more room for error.

Designing the right battery

Let’s start with the batteries. Uber CEO Dara Khosrowshahi has repeatedly said that these vehicles need to be all-electric. But the batteries are nowhere close to where they need to be, Uber Director of Engineering for Energy Storage Systems Celina Mikolajczak told TechCrunch at Uber’s third annual Elevate Summit in Washington, D.C. this week.

Within the battery department alone, there are a lot of pieces to it, Mikolajczak said.

“The first thing you want is you want a cell that is capable of achieving the mission, and we’ve been working to try and identify cells that can do this job,” she said.

To be clear, the job is to travel up to at least 60 miles on a single charge, with a cruise speed of 150 mph. Mikolajczak is confident that current battery technology can achieve the mission, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t challenges. There are challenges around weight, thermal management and safety.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/13/ubers-annual-flying-taxi-summit-reveals-uber-air-has-a-ways-to-go/

Amazon shareholders want the company to stop selling facial recognition to law enforcement

Amazon shareholders are demanding the company stop selling Rekognition, the company’s facial recognition software, to law enforcement. Unless the board of directors determines the technology “does not cause or contribute to actual or potential violations of civil and human rights,” shareholders want Amazon to stop selling the software to government agencies.

Rekognition, which is part of Amazon Web Services, has the ability to conduct image and video analyses of faces. The technology can identify and track people, as well as their emotions. Amazon has reportedly sold Rekognition to law enforcement agencies in at least two states. Amazon has also reportedly pitched this software to the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

Last May, the American Civil Liberties Union of Northern California shed some light on Rekognition, saying it had obtained documents that raise “profound civil liberties and civil rights concerns.” In one test, the ACLU found Rekognition wrongly identified 28 members of Congress, disproportionately confusing Congress members of color as people criminals.

This resolution, organized by non-profit organization Open MIC, represents a group of shareholders that represent a total of $1.32 billion in assets under management.

“It’s a familiar pattern: a leading tech company marketing what is hailed as breakthrough technology without understanding or assessing the many real and potential harms of that product,” Open MIC Executive Director Michael Connor wrote in a blog post. “Sales of Rekognition to government represent considerable risk for the company and investors. That’s why it’s imperative those sales be halted immediately.”

Shareholders intend for this resolution to be voted on in Amazon’s annual meeting this spring. TechCrunch has reached out to Amazon and will update this story if we hear back.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/17/amazon-shareholders-want-the-company-to-stop-selling-facial-recognition-to-law-enforcement/

Amazon is getting more serious about Alexa in the car

Amazon today announced a significant partnership with Telenav, a connected car and location-based services provider. As part of the collaboration, Amazon’s voice assistant, Alexa, will now be part of Telenav’s in-car navigation systems.

As it stands, Alexa lacks a lot of information that is pertinent to drivers. This collaboration should massively help to change that. The partnership is also designed to enable carmakers to bring Alexa inside more of its vehicles.

“Navigation is among the most popular use cases for in-car technology, and we’re excited to be working with Telenav to make it easier for automakers and suppliers to support voice-first navigation through Alexa,” Amazon Alexa Auto VP Ned Curic said in a statement. “Using the Alexa Auto SDK, Telenav is helping make Alexa a truly integrated part of the in-car navigation system, and providing customers with a more useful, consistent experience at home and on the go.”

Back in September, Amazon announced Echo Auto, an in-car accessory that enables consumers to install Alexa into their cars themselves. Amazon had also previously made Alexa available through certain cars from the BMW Group.

What’s different about this announcement is that Amazon now has the ability to bake in Alexa from the start.

Amazon also today announced a partnership with HERE Technologies to bring a voice-first in-vehicle navigation system into the more than 100 million vehicles today that are equipped with HERE. With this collaboration, announced at the Consumer Electronics Show, people will be able to plan their trips while at home and then, once they get in the car, the navigation system will already know what to do and where to go.

Based on the looks of these two announcements, it’s clear Amazon is ready, more than now than ever before, to be inside your car.

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2019/01/07/amazon-is-getting-more-serious-about-alexa-in-the-car/

Now you can have a conversation with Alexa without screaming ‘Hey, Alexa’ for every request

 Those with digital home assistants know this phenomenon all too well. You ask Siri, Google or Alexa to hook it up with the facts, they provide an answer, but then you have a follow-up question. In order to ask that follow-up question, you have to say “Hey, Siri,” “Hey, Google” or “Alexa” all over again. It’s a true annoyance in this first-world we… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/10/now-you-can-have-a-conversation-with-alexa-without-screaming-hey-alexa-for-every-request/?ncid=rss

Airbnb poaches Amazon’s Prime boss

 Airbnb is bringing on Greg Greeley, Amazon’s current VP of Prime & Delivery Experience, Airbnb CEO Brian Chesky wrote in a blog post today. His first day at Airbnb will be March 18. At Airbnb, Greeley will be responsible for leading the home-sharing startup’s Homes unit. The Homes unit entails Airbnb’s standard offering as well as its recently-launched Plus offering, which… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/06/airbnb-poaches-amazons-prime-boss/?ncid=rss

Amazon Prime boss leaves company

 Greg Greeley, Amazon VP of Amazon Prime and delivery experience, is leaving the company after 18 years of work at Amazon, he posted on LinkedIn last night. During his time at Amazon, he held a number of senior leadership positions. Greeley is credited for helping create Amazon Prime and previously built Amazon’s European business. In a LinkedIn post last night, Greeley announced his… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/03/06/amazon-prime-boss-leaves-company/?ncid=rss

CTRL+T podcast: Artificial intelligence may become a human rights issue

 Welcome back to another glorious episode of CTRL+T. This week, Henry Pickavet and I explore Amazon’s new cashier-less stores that promise no waiting in line — except to get in — and Uber’s newest C-level executive hire. Later in the episode, I rage with Safiya Umoja Noble, a professor at the University of Southern California and author of “Algorithms of… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/27/ctrlt-podcast-artificial-intelligence-may-become-a-human-rights-issue/?ncid=rss

Jeff Bezos donates $33 million to fund college scholarships for Dreamers

 Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos and his wife, MacKenzie, are donating $33 million in the form of a scholarship grant to help 1,000 undocumented immigrant high school graduates with Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals status attend college. The Bezos grant comes through TheDream.US, a scholarship fund for Dreamers. The organization, which is less than four years old, says this is the largest grant it… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2018/01/12/jeff-bezos-donates-33-million-to-fund-college-scholarships-for-dreamers/?ncid=rss

Automating your life on this week’s episode of CTRL+T

 People are lazy. Well, let me speak for myself. I am lazy. So it’s no wonder why on this week’s episode of CTRL+T, I was drawn to some news items that touched on home assistants and personal assistants for when you’re out in the wild. Amazon’s Echo Dot was the top-selling product on all of Amazon this holiday season and startup Fin recently launched its human/AI… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/30/automating-your-life-on-this-weeks-episode-of-ctrlt/?ncid=rss

The Echo Dot was the best-selling product on all of Amazon this holiday season

 The holiday shopping season is finally over and that means Amazon has some shopping data for us. This holiday season, Amazon’s Echo Dot was the top-selling Amazon device, as well as the top-selling product available from any manufacturer across all categories on Amazon.com, with millions sold. Meanwhile, Amazon’s newer Alexa-enabled devices, the Echo Spot, Echo Dot and Echo… Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/12/26/the-echo-dot-was-the-best-selling-product-on-all-of-amazon-this-holiday-season/?ncid=rss

Amazon reportedly blames the U.S. Postal Service for Amazon Fresh issues

 Amazon is blaming the U.S. Postal Service for having to shut down Fresh in some areas, Recode reports. Internally, sources told Recode that Amazon is saying USPS was responsible for making the deliveries in most of the affected areas. As the story goes, Amazon is throwing shade at the USPS, telling food brands the USPS wasn’t reliable in delivering the food on time or at all, Recode reports. Read More

from Amazon – TechCrunch https://techcrunch.com/2017/11/15/amazon-blames-the-u-s-postal-service-for-amazon-fresh-issues/?ncid=rss