Covid-19: Amazon closes US apparel returns warehouse

Bloomberg

Amazon.com Inc has extended the shuttering of a warehouse dedicated to returning apparel after three workers tested positive for Covid-19, the first known instance of the online retailer indefinintely idling a US facility in response to the pandemic.
The move comes after employees expressed concern that returning to work to process returned sneakers and wristwatches wasn’t worth the risk of contracting or spreading the respiratory disease.
Workers at the Shepherdsville, Kentucky, warehouse, south of Louisville, had been told at a shift change that the warehouse, called SDF9, was closed for 48 hours for “enhanced, daily deep cleaning” to protect employees after the company was informed of positive coronavirus tests within the ranks.
Then, a few hours before the first workers were scheduled
to return to work, employees learned from an automated call that the facility would remain closed for more cleaning, according to four employees who received the call.
Workers will get their regularly scheduled pay, said the employees, who spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retaliation from their employer. They will be contacted once the company has determined an opening date, the message said.
As businesses across the US shut down to slow the spread of the coronavirus, Amazon’s warehouses have taken a place alongside grocery stores, pharmacies and other essential facilities keeping their doors open during the pandemic. These companies are implicitly asking their employees to risk illness and the possibility of spreading the contagion to provide vital services. As part of that effort, Amazon cut off shipments of non-essential inventory to its warehouses to prioritise in-demand items.
But in addition to Amazon’s more than 100 multipurpose warehouses in the US — which either stock small items like cans of soup or dry goods in interchangable bins or larger packages like bulk diapers, toilet paper and televisions — Amazon has also kept open a smaller number of specialty warehouses.
The Shepherdsville facility is geared towards sneakers, watches and T-shirts. Other, similar depots, spread across the country from Southern California to Georgia, can’t easily be repurposed to stock the essentials Amazon is prioritising, according to people who track Amazon’s logistics network.
For some workers in Shepherdsville, the idea of reopening their warehouse for the sake of returns seemed dangerous. “I can understand if they’re doing medical supplies and food, but we don’t,” an Amazon employee there said in an interview.