Six Amazon workers die due to a tornado that struck Edwardsville Illinois.
Where this Amazon warehouse was located,
now it unfortunately was not able to withstand the tornado.
So the building collapsed and there have been some questions about what
the employers over at Amazon were communicating to the workers.
Were they encouraged to find safe shelter,
where they encouraged to keep working despite tornado sirens.
Well, now we have some email or text message exchanges between one delivery
driver and a supervisor over at Amazon, here's what we know.
Apparently the delivery driver texted radio has been going off.
The driver wrote in a text obtained by Bloomberg News
keep delivering came the response from her supervisor.
We can't just call people back for a warning unless Amazon tells us to.
Now the driver suggested that she returned back to the base to find safety to
find shelter, but her boss warned that by doing so she could lose her job.
And by the way, what about safety training, multiple Amazon employees
have come forward to say that they haven't received any safety training,
especially when it comes to issues like tornadoes.
The only thing that they've received in terms of safety training is their
supervisors essentially pointing to emergency exits.
Now, the driver also texted this, tornado alarms are going off over here.
The dispatch responded with just keep delivering for now we have to wait for
word from Amazon if we need to bring people back,
the decision will ultimately be up to them.
I will let you know if the situation changes at all.
I'm talking with them now about it.
The driver responded because the situation seemed pretty dire and dangerous.
How about for my own personal safety, I'm going to head back.
Having alarms going off next to me and nothing but
locked buildings around me isn't sheltering in place,
that's wanting to turn this van into a casket, Hour left of delivery time.
And if you look at the radar,
the worst of the storm is going to be right on top of me in 30 minutes.
And even with those warnings, the dispatch responded with this.
If you decide to come back, the choice is yours.
But I can tell you it won't be viewed as for your own safety.
The safest practices to stay exactly where you are.
If you decide to return with your package is it will be viewed as you refusing your
route, which will ultimately end with you not having a job come tomorrow morning.
The sirens are just a warning.
Now, luckily this driver survived and was able to provide these text messages
to Bloomberg and apparently now spokespeople over at Amazon are saying no,
no, no, the dispatch was wrong.
This is not what our protocol is.
So they're completely denying that this is basically the culture over at Amazon,
which I am not buying for a second.
But I think, I mean, look, there were all sorts of people writing into us telling
us, look, you can't predict the tornado, you can't don't blame Amazon,
you can't predict the tornado.
Come on guys don't take what the employer,
especially an employer like Amazon says at face value.
They were forcing people to continue working even as tornado sirens were
going off.
>> Okay, so there's two issues here.
One is amazon too, is corporate rule in general.
So in this case, the dispatcher clearly says unless Amazon tells us to, is she?
On several occasions they say that Amazon said to stay where you are and
not to go to safety, okay?
Now they can claim, hey,
they thought it was safer to stay in a van in the middle of a tornado.
But as the driver is saying, this is gonna be my casket,
this doesn't feel safe at all.
And they were right, it wasn't safe and Amazon was wrong.
Now, where should you go?
You should immediately find shelter, wherever is the closest shelter.
Don't worry about your goddamn route, but there's a dispatch,
you're saying we're gonna fire you if you don't risk your life.
So now amazon needs to figure out and through the court system, they should both
civilly and criminally find out if amazon actually did give that order, okay?
And but then secondly guys, it's about corporate rule overall and
you all know this, you all know it in your bones because you're real people.
People in New York and DC have no idea because they have million dollar jobs and
they don't go through this at all.
They have all the leverage they want with their bosses.
Yeah, I'll take, I'll get Fox News to give me $20 million I'll give,
get CNN to give me $20 million but
they don't realize not all of us have that kind of leverage, right?
And you know the corporations will drive you back to work even if your life
is in danger.
You all know that, denying that is absurd.
The people that are supposed to look out for
you is the government because they are your representatives.
But our government is bribed regularly by corporations,
they call it campaign contributions.
And they bribed them so they can get power and fame, so the politicians can get power
and fame and they can get back brutal working conditions.
So they can make more money.
And that's exactly what Amazon and all the other corporations have gotten.
And you will not be protected by your representatives because we
now have a system of organized and legalized bribery.
>> And that system of course is protected by our insanely conservative
Supreme Court.
That includes justices who previously ruled that workers should
be placed in unsafe conditions as long as they're listening to
an abiding by the wishes of their employers.
Neil Gorsuch, famously voted or ruled against a worker, a trucker,
who was, it is truck stuck in the middle of a winter storm looking for
safety and his employer, Jake you know more details about this than I do.
His employer essentially threatened to fire him if he abandoned his broken down
truck in the middle of a winter storm, correct?
>> Yes, his limbs had gone numb, he was about to lose his limbs,
they ordered him to stay and freeze to death.
He didn't do it, thank God.
And so he stayed alive.
Gorsuch said you should have frozen to death.
>> It's insane.
>> They were not wrong to fire you, you disobeyed their order and
if they disobey the order then they're in the right,
every other judge that looked at that case said that's obviously preposterous.
What was the guy's supposed to freeze to death?
And Gorsuch said absolutely.
And that's when corporations were like put that guy in the Supreme Court and
look at that, he's now in the Supreme Court.
You see how that works.
They bought every part of the system by the way, including the media who tells you
that, no, these beloved politicians in the Supreme Court are principled people.
And they're just making decisions that happen to favor corporations every time.
But it's just a coincidence.
Do you think it's a coincidence?
No, they're playing with your lives.