Workers across St. Louis sectors want to feel safer while at their jobs

Workers in different sectors in the St. Louis region want their respective employers to change the way they respond to injuries employees have while working.

Amazon employees, nurses and workers rights advocates gathered outside Amazon’s fulfillment center in St. Peters on Wednesday to call out working conditions they say don’t help employees stay healthy.

“It’s just the stress of trying to make your rate and move so fast,” said Amazon packer Wendy Taylor. “Whatever algorithm they used to design that, they didn’t take safety into account. People are just overextending themselves.”

This past March, Taylor said she tore her meniscus after tripping over an empty pallet behind her station. After this instance, which is detailed in a complaint to the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Taylor went to Amazon’s in-house medical team, AmCare, where she received ice treatment and ibuprofen before being sent back to work.

Amazon in a statement said that AmCare provides first aid and that “onsite medical representatives should immediately refer an employee outside for treatment if they need care beyond basic first aid, or if an employee requests it.”

But Taylor said this wasn’t her experience.

“I requested a doctor several times, and they just ignored it and tried to minimize my injuries and basically wouldn’t allow me to see a doctor,” she said. “When you come in (to AmCare) their whole objective is to get you back on the work floor ASAP.”