{"id":43187,"date":"2021-04-08T22:59:52","date_gmt":"2021-04-08T22:59:52","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/?post_type=press_releases&p=43187"},"modified":"2021-04-08T23:03:52","modified_gmt":"2021-04-08T23:03:52","slug":"ufcw-amazon-grocery-expansion-with-cashierless-technology-threatens-good-paying-jobs-of-essential-workers","status":"publish","type":"press_releases","link":"https:\/\/www.ufcw.org\/press-releases\/ufcw-amazon-grocery-expansion-with-cashierless-technology-threatens-good-paying-jobs-of-essential-workers\/","title":{"rendered":"UFCW: Amazon Grocery Expansion with Cashierless Technology Threatens Good-Paying Jobs of Essential Workers"},"content":{"rendered":"
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As COVID Risks Continue, Union for Supermarket Workers on Frontlines Nationwide Condemns Amazon Move to Bring Job-Killing Playbook to Grocery Industry\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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WASHINGTON, DC<\/strong> \u2013 Today, the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union (UFCW)<\/strong><\/a>, which represents 1.3 million essential workers in grocery, meatpacking, <\/strong>and other frontline industries<\/strong>, condemned the move by Amazon to continue its aggressive expansion of the company\u2019s new Amazon Fresh grocery chain<\/a> and Amazon Go cashierless stores<\/a>. Amazon\u2019s new push into the Mid-Atlantic region<\/a> announced today will result in the company controlling over 500 grocery stores nationwide, including Amazon-owned Whole Foods stores. A recent report confirmed that Amazon is already testing cashierless technology at its Amazon Fresh grocery stores<\/a>, further threatening the jobs of America’s 16 million retail workers.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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UFCW International President Marc Perrone released the following statement: <\/strong><\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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\u201cAmazon is bringing its ruthless anti-worker playbook to the grocery industry with the expansion of these stores, and our country\u2019s essential workers and the families they serve will be the ones who pay the price. This pandemic has made clear that our country\u2019s grocery workers are essential as we have looked to our neighborhood supermarkets to protect access to the food we need during this crisis.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cAmazon failed to prevent nearly 20,000 COVID infections among workers at its warehouses and Whole Foods grocery stores. With Amazon continuing to push its job-killing cashierless technology at these stores, it\u2019s clear that these markets will also represent a threat to the local economies across the country.\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cAt a time when millions of Americans are already struggling, when most Americans are one paycheck away from disaster, what does it say that Amazon wants to create stores that serve food and groceries and eliminate the jobs real people need? Now, more than ever, it is time for our nation\u2019s leaders \u2013 Democrats and Republicans \u2013 to wake up and act before Amazon and Jeff Bezos do permanent damage to America\u2019s economy and the future of work.\u201d\u00a0<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n

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BACKGROUND<\/strong>:<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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UFCW has been a leading national voice calling to hold Amazon accountable<\/strong> for unsafe working conditions and retaliatory firings of whistleblowers during the COVID-19 pandemic, and UFCW affiliate RWDSU is currently leading the campaign to unionize Amazon warehouse workers<\/a> in Alabama.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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UFCW highlighted safety failures that allowed a COVID outbreak at a Whole Foods store in Detroit<\/a> and over 19,000 COVID Amazon worker infections<\/a> across the company\u2019s warehouses and retail stores, and last year demanded Amazon end its COVID gag rule<\/a> on employees speaking out about pandemic workplace hazards.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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In August 2020, Amazon launched its own grocery chain<\/a> and now has 12 Amazon Fresh grocery stores<\/strong> across California<\/strong> and the Chicago suburbs<\/strong>, and the company is set to continue its rapid expansion with plans for a total of at least 40 Amazon Fresh stores nationwide<\/a> in the coming months. <\/strong>Amazon\u2019s cashierless technology is in use at its more than 25 Amazon Go stores<\/a> across New York<\/strong>, San Francisco<\/strong>, Chicago<\/strong> and Seattle<\/strong>, and the company is already testing cashierless technology in its Amazon Fresh grocery stores<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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Amazon expanding its cashierless technology to its Amazon Fresh grocery stores, as well as\u00a0licensing the technology other retailers<\/a>, would likely:\u00a0<\/p>\n<\/div>\n\n

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