While the New York Times ran a front-page story this past weekend documenting Amazon's unsettling effects on the city of Baltimore, Md., the newspaper is not the only news outlet or other organization to put Amazon's practices under increased scrutiny lately.
Early last week, the Atlantic, in conjunction with Reveal from the Center for Investigative Reporting, reported on the severe performance quotas under which Amazon employees and contractors work at its fulfillment centers and warehouses, and found that in 2018 employees were injured at a rate more than twice the industry average.
In a report underwritten by the Los Angeles County Federation of Labor, the Economic Roundtable said that while Amazon has provided jobs for a "job-hungry labor force" in Southern California, wages for the typical warehouse worker are so low that the company helps "perpetuate the economic struggle in these neighborhoods." The report also discusses the company's carbon footprint as well as the air pollution caused by its trucking operations, which disproportionately affects low-income communities of color.
A coalition of 42 local and national organizations, ranging from labor groups and digital privacy watchdogs to social and environmental justice groups, has come together to form Athena, an alliance set on organizing opposition to "Amazon's growing, powerful grip over our society and economy."
On the subject of grassroots resistance against Amazon, in another story, the Times discussed the growing movement in greater detail, touching on Amazon's decision to abandon its plans for a new headquarters in Long Island City in New York as well as its failed attempt to stack the City Council in Seattle, Wash., with politicians sympathetic to the company.
And finally, the Seattle Times ran a round-up of its own, including some comments from an Amazon spokesperson.