Inside a Minnesota Amazon warehouse, new state law puts spotlight on worker safety

Miami Herald

15 hours ago

SHAKOPEE, Minnesota - About 20 workers at the Amazon fulfillment center in this suburb southwest of Minneapolis gathered around a supervisor early one morning before starting another shift.
Yelling above all the commotion of a 855,000-square-foot facility, the manager told workers they were in for another busy day before he launched the group into a stretching routine for fingers, wrists, necks, torsos and legs. This site can churn out a million or more packages a day during peak seasons.
But the workload can also churn out injured workers - around 200 a year, according to federal data. Repetitive tasks such as lifting, reaching or bending, done for hours at a time, five days a week, can lead to musculoskeletal injuries that can force employees to miss work.
The Shakopee facility's safety record has drawn scrutiny for years. It helped inspire new statewide safety regulations that took effect in late 2023.
Yet more than a year later, some workers still assert that Amazon is not doing enough to keep them safe. And while federal data shows that the most serious injuries among workers are on the decline at the facility, overall injuries still increased last year.
"All they want is just fair work, a safe place for them to work," said Deqa Essa, the executive director of the Awood Center, a nonprofit that assists East African immigrant workers, many of whom work for Amazon.
Amazon's Shakopee fulfillment center opened in 2016. Not long after, it began to take heat for its working conditions.
A 2021 study by the National Employment Law Project found that from 2018 to 2020, the facility had an injury rate of 11.1 cases per 100 full-time-equivalent workers. That's more than double the rate at non-Amazon warehouses in Minnesota and more than four times the average rate for all private industries in the state.
The facility, which now employs 2,500 people, became the site of worker protests, drawing the attention of state lawmakers. In 2022, with Amazon in mind, the Legislature passed safety requirements meant to eliminate excessive productivity quotas and slow the pace of work at warehouses with 250 workers or more at one site, or for companies with 1,000 workers across multiple warehouses.
If an employer records an injury or illness rate at least 30% higher than national averages, the state is supposed to open an investigation and the employer must hold safety committee meetings monthly until the rate drops below 30%. The law went into effect in late 2023.
In 2024, Minnesota also implemented new safety standards to reduce the risk of musculoskeletal injuries for warehouses and other facilities with more than 100 employees.
The state has since levied fines against 15 warehouses as of February, ranging from $4,300 to as much as $32,500, according to records from the state Department of Labor and Industry. The violations commonly involve required safety programs designed to avoid musculoskeletal injuries - a lack of implementation, training or reference to them in written materials for workers.
Amazon's Shakopee facility is among the 15 warehouses. Although its fine of $10,500 ranks in the bottom third compared to the others, it is the only enforcement action the state has publicized so far.
The state fined Amazon, alleging that it did not protect employees from ergonomic hazards and that it used a quota system without giving a written copy of it to workers before they were expected to meet it.
Amazon is appealing the fines. Spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the company had already implemented many of the safety precautions required by the law, and denied that workers are judged on a fixed quota system.
But some workers at Amazon said they felt the company still has not done enough to support them.
About a half-dozen workers met with the Minnesota Star Tribune at the Awood Center, which helps with policy advocacy, workers' rights education and leadership development for immigrant workers.
Workers interviewed requested anonymity out of fear of retaliation at work. They said the speed of the job and the likelihood of injuries at Amazon are the same if not worse than before Minnesota passed its new safety regulations.
"I still feel pain. But still, I need my job," said one woman who continued to have pain in her shoulder after she reportedly hurt herself at work. She still can't lift heavy things above her head and suffers from migraines that she believes are related to her injury.
Amazon has made some progress safety-wise at the facility. According to data from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the rate of injury cases in which an employee missed time from work dropped 54% from 2020 through 2024.
Nantel said the progress on severe injuries is the result of more than $2 billion in company-wide safety investments since 2019, rather than any new regulations in Minnesota.
"Those are the things that have made a big difference," she said.
Workers have also complained to the Awood Center that supervisors penalize them for the time it takes to use the bathroom or pray, in violation of the new law. The issue, workers said, is that walks to the bathroom or prayer room in the massive facility can take several minutes.
Nantel acknowledged that in general there can be Amazon supervisors who act outside of policy regarding work breaks but said that they are held accountable. She dismissed it as a widespread issue, calling it an "easy accusation" that is not based in fact.
But Essa insisted Amazon still has room for improvement. Of the 20 Amazon workers the organization is in touch with, she said, almost all of them report pain in their shoulders, neck or elsewhere.
"I think to comply [with the new law], it takes time," Essa said. "That's why we exist. You have to continue pushing for Amazon to do the right thing."
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