Stuart Appelbaum, president of Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said accelerating deliveries could be dangerous to employees from the Amazon fulfillment center. Appelbaum said the workers are already struggling to keep pace and handle 200 to 300 orders during a single 12-hour shift.
Amazon's Dave Clark, senior vice president of worldwide operations, resigned on Appelbaum's remarks. He accused the association's leader of continuing to "endure lies".
"We greatly appreciate his concern about our fellow human beings, but his concern is misleading and self-serving," Clark said in a statement partly by Amazon.
An Amazon spokesman told CNN Business that workers are not "struggling to sustain" their workloads and their lives are not at stake. "We have a very safe working environment," the spokesman said in an email.
It is unclear whether Amazon is planning to add jobs to its fulfillment centers to help take faster shipments. Leaders have not indicated how the $ 800 million investment in a day's shipping will be spent.
Clark said Amazon has spent two decades expanding its network of warehouses and shipping pipelines, allowing Amazon workers "to deliver orders faster and more efficiently – not to work harder but to work smarter." 19659012] Amazon was criticized in April last year after it turned out that the median salary for employees was $ 28,446 in 2017. The company said in October it would increase its minimum wage to $ 15 a month. hour.
Amazon is one of the largest employers in America with 647,500 full-time and part-time employees per month. December 31, 2018.