Amazon is expanding its network of Connecticut warehouses, drawing protests from organized labor for its reliance on nonunion contractors

Amazon is expanding its network of Connecticut warehouses, drawing protests from organized labor for its reliance on nonunion contractors

“We’re going to put Amazon on notice about the exploitation of workers,” said Joe Toner, president of the Hartford Building Trades Council. The building trades unions, Connecticut AFL-CIO, leaders of the General Assembly’s Labor Committee and others say Amazon’s hiring of out-of-state contractors on a 3.5 million square-foot distribution center in Windsor puts Connecticut at risk of a COVID-19 outbreak. Critics also cited A&D Welding, a Winston, Ga., contractor that was issued three stop work orders by the Connecticut Department of Labor for failing to contribute to workers compensation. Toner said nonunion contractors have underbid their union counterparts by paying as much as $50 an hour less per worker in pay and benefits. On Monday, unions and the leaders of the General Assembly’s labor committee plan to protest Amazon’s “irresponsible and unsafe labor practices” with a press conference outside Amazon’s distribution center in Windsor.

https://www.courant.com/business/hc-biz-amazon-labor-complaints-20200919-44juz7y7ovej3cgpwhzrigy2ju-story.html

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