Amazon's promotional video was criticized. Will the FBA warehouse be closed?

Recently, there was a conflict between Amazon's warehouse in Wisconsin and the local state government. The warehouse refused to allow government epidemic prevention personnel to enter for testing and supervision, and the government warned Amazon that it might force the closure of local Amazon offices and warehouses.

Prior to this, under the leadership of Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey, 13 states jointly wrote a letter to Amazon, expressing concerns about the company's "inadequate safety measures and sick leave policies, missing data on worker infections and deaths, and retaliation against workers who claim that the working environment is unsafe " reported by the media.

In response, Dave Clark, head of Amazon's global logistics business, said in an interview with CBS that the spread of the new coronavirus in Amazon warehouses is no worse than the situation in the United States.

However, he declined to give specific case numbers because "it's not a particularly useful number."

In order to stabilize public sentiment, Amazon broadcast the epidemic prevention situation in Amazon's local warehouses on TV stations in more than a dozen local states in the United States . Almost all of them praised Amazon's effective epidemic prevention measures.

It is understood that the video mainly promotes Amazon's efforts to protect warehouse employees in response to the new crown epidemic. It includes pre-recorded clips in the logistics center, interviews with employees, and written scripts for the anchor to read aloud.

But it seems that Amazon made a wrong move. The video was heavily criticized after it was broadcast. Some foreign media even revealed that the incident was manipulated by Amazon’s public relations department.

The reason is that the content shown in the video is very different from the situation during the epidemic period described by Amazon warehouse employees.

U.S. senators criticized Amazon on social media, calling the video " political propaganda " and calling on Amazon to provide sick leave benefits to warehouse workers.

An Amazon spokesperson responded that the videos were intended to more clearly show working conditions in warehouses.

In addition, Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos refuted the above allegations at Amazon's 2020 annual shareholder meeting, saying that Amazon quickly realized the need to protect workers during the epidemic.

At the meeting, the brother-in-law first expressed his gratitude to Amazon's front-line warehouse and delivery employees, saying they provided a "lifeline" for customers stranded at home.

Amazon also defended itself against criticism from warehouse workers, labor rights groups and lawmakers over its response to the pandemic, which was criticized as too slow, too slow to provide workers with personal protective equipment, temperature screening and other tools, and too slow to provide workers with adequate protection.

Bezos said Amazon has changed the way things work in its warehouses to slow the spread of the virus, and that it is building its own testing lab in the hope of providing virus testing to warehouse workers across the United States.

Notably, Amazon repeated throughout the conference, showing a video of a group of warehouse and delivery workers wearing masks.

They touted expanded safety measures at their facilities. One worker said their job was like “walking into a chocolate factory and you win a golden ticket,” while another said they appreciated Amazon’s “efforts on safety.”

He also praised Amazon's senior leadership and board of directors, saying they "have done a great job." Bezos said: "I'm very proud of the work the team has done. We took this very seriously from the beginning."

"I'm proud of the work the team has done at the outbreak flagship and we've taken this seriously from the beginning," he said.

Bezos said he has been working closely with the senior management team and holding weekly calls with the board over the past few months to address these issues.

He added that nothing is more important than the safety of its employees.

Having said that, many sellers are still worried about the epidemic prevention issues in Amazon warehouses.

Fear that if there is indeed a problem, employees will quit and refuse to work in the warehouse.

Some local governments believe that Amazon’s epidemic prevention work is not good enough, so they restrict warehouse operations or require the implementation of certain epidemic prevention work/standards.

If the situation is serious, it may lead to the closure of the warehouse.

Personally, I think whether there are real epidemic prevention issues in Amazon warehouses, the impact on the warehouses will not be that great.

Because the United States is now forced to resume work despite the epidemic, this means that the current closed isolation will cause greater harm to the United States. Therefore, even if the Amazon warehouse is seriously infected, the most it can do is reduce its capacity, and there will be no complete closure.

(Source: Cross-border Sellers Teahouse)