Jeff Bezos adds $24B to his fortune as Amazon workers protest poor work conditions amid pandemic
Amazon's CEO Jeff Bezos has increased his already vast fortune by $24B during the coronavirus pandemic, which is roughly a 20% increase over the last four months. Meanwhile, the conglomerate's workers are protesting the retail giant's decision to end the unlimited, unpaid time off program it has enforced during the coronavirus outbreak.
Bezos owns 11% stake in Amazon and has been the world’s richest person since 2017. His net worth has grown to $143.1B, nearly $40B more than the world's second-richest man Bill Gates, and almost twice that of Warren Buffett.
During last month's three-day stock market rally — the best since 1933 — Bezos benefitted as Amazon's share price recovered almost all of its losses in the month to trade at roughly $1,920 per share. He also sold a large portion of his Amazon shares in February, before the scale of the coronavirus crisis was fully acknowledged and before the stock market collapsed.
However, while Bezos reaps the benefits of the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon's workers are questioning the company's business and labor practices more than ever as they bring to light the conditions that are affecting them adversely.
Last week, the company announced that starting May 1, workers not directly affected by COVID-19 and whose work requires physical presence — primarily warehouse workers — will either have to come to work or request a leave of absence.
Moreover, according to a Recode report, Amazon is ramping up enforcement of its internal communications rules limiting employees' use of large email lists. This week, Amazon’s IT department notified some employees who manage listservs of more than 500 people that they are required to have employee moderators pre-approve any posts on their mailing lists — a rule that the company says previously existed but several sources told the publication the rule was rarely enforced until now.
Since the onset of the pandemic, hundreds of Amazon warehouse employees at least 50 sites around the US have participated in protesting working conditions during the pandemic, demanding greater pay, access to protective gear and more generous time-off policies.
Moreover, Amazon fired two employees who had been critical of the company's response to the coronavirus pandemic, especially with regard to the company's warehouse workers. Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa had internally circulated a petition about health risks for Amazon warehouse workers during the coronavirus crisis. Costa and Cunningham had worked at the company for 15 and five years respectively.
The poor conditions even prompted New York state lawyer Letitia James to send a letter to Amazon saying, "Amazon's health and safety measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are so inadequate that they may violate several provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act."
On May 1, workers from Amazon, Instacart and other retailers are going to protest on the occasion of International Workers' Day due to their employers' "continuing failure to provide adequate protection in the workplace".
More than 130 Amazon facilities have had at least one employee test positive for COVID-19, and workers have conducted strikes at both warehouse and national levels to protest how the company has handled those cases.
Amazon has taken steps to address some of the issues raised by workers, including pledging to increase cleaning and enforcing social distancing measures at warehouses.