As many people practice social distancing because of the coronavirus pandemic, essential workers along supply chains have moved to the front lines of essential work, showing up to warehouses or agricultural processing plants in order to provide services. Massachusetts Attorney General Maura Healey said her office is closely monitoring labor conditions at places like Amazon and other distribution facilities to ensure worker safety protocols are adhered to.
She told Boston Public Radio on Tuesday her office and 13 other attorneys general sent another letter to Amazon urging them to strengthen their worker protections and provide data about working conditions and COVID-19 cases.
"We're now asking them to do certain things, provide [workers] with PPE and social distancing, and some places are and some places are not," she said. "Also, we'd like to see data on how many workers have been infected or have died from COVID19. We want to make sure Amazon, Whole Foods and other big employers around the country are really taking action to make sure that workers are being protected first of all, but that also they not hide the ball, that they actually be clear and forthcoming once workers are identified."
Healey noted that there have been no documented cases of employers retaliating against workers for speaking out against conditions in Massachusetts, but it has happened elsewhere in the country, and her office is monitoring it.
"That's against the law," she said. "So we're getting word out to make things clear, but also looking to keep the pressure on as we go forward, because we can't have any give."
During her segment, Healey also took listener calls and questions.
