(Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc has apologized to US Rep. Mark Pocan, admitting to scoring an “own goal” in his initial denial of his suggestion that his drivers were sometimes forced to urinate into bottles during their rounds. cast.
“We know that drivers can have trouble finding restrooms due to traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been especially the case during Covid, when many public restrooms were closed,” the company said in a blog post. bit.ly/2PnoLKr.
His admission came a week after the Democrat criticized Amazon’s working conditions, saying in a tweet: “Paying workers $ 15 an hour doesn’t make you a ‘progressive workplace’ when you blow up unions and make that workers urinate in water bottles. “
Amazon initially issued a denial, saying in a tweet: “You really don’t believe peeing in bottles, do you? If that were true, no one would work for us. ”But he later backed off those comments.
“This was an own goal, we are not happy about that and we owe Representative Pocan an apology,” Amazon said in its blog post, adding that its previous response only referred to personnel in its warehouses or fulfillment centers.
The company said the problem affected the entire industry and that it would seek solutions, without specifying what they might be.
Amazon’s apology comes at a time when Alabama warehouse workers are waiting for a vote recount that could result in the online retailer’s first unionized installation in the United States and mark a watershed moment for organized workers.
Amazon has long discouraged unionization attempts by its more than 800,000 American employees. Accusations by many workers of a strenuous or unsafe workplace have made unionization at the company a key goal for the American labor movement.
Report from Shubham Kalia in Bengaluru; Edited by David Holmes