Amazon workers in Minnesota protest working conditions

In January, the Chicago Tribune reported on Linda Becker’s lawsuit against the retail giant for allegedly “delaying medical attention” to her husband, 57-year-old Thomas Becker, after he clutched his chest and fell to the floor of a Amazon warehouse in Joliet, Illinois. According to the lawsuit, Amazon waited 25 minutes before calling the fire department to help Becker—a fire department that was located only a half mile away from the warehouse. Becker died.

“We had our life planned out. I don’t have a life anymore. It has left a big void,” Linda Becker said. “This has been unlike anything I’ve ever had to deal with. He loved life; he didn’t want to die.”

Amazon’s working conditions have been the foundation of work labor activism the past couple of years. Recently Somali workers in Minnesota have protested the harsh working conditions and the lack of cultural sensitivity from Amazon’s higher-ups. The National Council for Occupational Safety and Health (National COSH) released their “Dirty Dozen” report the last week of April, and on that list was mega-online retailer Amazon. According to the report, a series of deaths and general all-around poor safety and working conditions led to the company’s inclusion. This falls in line with The Daily Beast’s report in March that Amazon warehouses made almost 200 emergency 9-1-1 calls reporting suicidal coworkers.

None of this helps Billy Foister, who was let down by a business that sees numbers and not people; counts time in cash, not mindfulness; and worries about profit streams over safety concerns. The Guardian writes that according to one worker who was there the day Foister died, and asked to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, while Billy Foister expired on the warehouse floor, his coworkers were ordered to get back to work as if nothing had ever happened.