New report details injuries at NJ Amazon warehouses as activists oppose new facility

Daniel Munoz
NorthJersey.com

Environmental and labor activists urged the Port Authority once again on Thursday to reject a $432 million freight hub proposed by Amazon for Newark Liberty International Airport, saying the online retail giant had a disturbing record of workplace injuries at its warehouses.

Port Authority Board President Kevin O'Toole called the statistics "eye-opening" but did not say how they might affect the proposal. The agency, which owns the airport, will have a response in "a month or two," O'Toole said.

Workers for Amazon's  53 New Jersey facilities suffered 1,605 workplace injuries, of which 1,386 were serious enough to miss work or be placed on restricted duty, according to a new report. 

The report stated Amazon warehouse workers suffer injuries "almost twice as high as the injury rate among all other warehouse workers in 2021." 

Advocates held a protest against the Amazon air cargo hub slated to open at Newark Liberty Airport in 2023. The protest was held at the entrance of Weequahic Park, along the intersection of Meeker Ave. and Frelinghuysen Ave. on October 6 2021. Tito of Newark protests against Amazon.

Amazon’s injuries made up for 55% of all serious workplace injuries in 2021, according to the report, which cites data from the federal Occupational Safety and Health Administration. The state has seen a surge of warehouses driven by the coronavirus-fueled e-commerce boom, with Amazon leading the pack. 

The report was prepared by Rutgers labor Professor Carmen Martino and New Jersey Policy Perspective’s research Director Nicole Rodriguez.

A "cursory review of all OSHA data" would have revealed that from 2019 to 2021, Amazon's "recordable injury rate declined by more than 13% while the three other large retailers in our industry saw their rates increase." said Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel. 

“We hired tens of thousands of additional people to help us meet the unforeseen demand from COVID-19, Nantel said, adding the company spent $300 million on safety upgrades at its facilities in 2021. 

State lawmakers slammed Amazon over the report, and Rep. Donald Norcross, D-Camden, accused Amazon on Twitter of "putting profits over safety." 

The Port Authority of New York and New Jersey announced in August that it was entering a 20-year lease agreement with Amazon Air, the company's private air cargo service that delivers its packages. 

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The agreement provides for an upfront rental payment of $150 million followed by $157 million over the period of the lease. Amazon is expected to invest $125 million to redevelop and renovate two buildings on the airport's property into a state-of-the-art cargo service facility.

The deal calls for the creation of 1,000 jobs at the airport, according to the Port Authority, and a “good faith” assurance of 20% involvement from minority-owned businesses and 10% from women-owned businesses in all improvements and renovations to the facilities as well as contractors and subcontractors involved in operating the new cargo hub.

“They don’t offer good jobs,” Newark resident Courtney Brown said at the Thursday meeting. “The money that they offer is very little, it’s not enough to actually live.”

Brown, who said she’s employed at Amazon, said that the jobs most workers do “tend to cause lots of injuries,” be it serious workplace ones or long-term conditions like tendinitis.

She was joined by several members of Make the Road New Jersey, an immigrant rights and labor advocacy group that has organized the opposition to the project

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Make the Road said they’ve been organizing against the project because minority and impoverished communities, unionized workers and people who live in Newark near the airport and industrial parks were not given a chance to weigh in on the project before its August announcement. 

Newark’s South Ward, a predominantly Black and Latino, lower-income community, will see the brunt of air emissions from trucks and aircraft, which could have dire health and quality of life effects, said James Jones, an area resident and community organizer. 

Kevin Brown, the state director for airport workers' union SEIU 32BJ, said in an October statement that he was concerned about how the agreement would affect union members working in the two facilities that will be leased to Amazon. 

The union is concerned about the future of these workers, who might lose protections that are available to them under the Healthy Terminals Act, signed into law last year by Gov. Phil Murphy, said Brown.

In an October statement, Amazon said it strives "to be a good neighbor, and we continually work with local community leaders, elected officials, community partners, neighbors and other stakeholders to ensure any issues and concerns are heard and addressed to best serve our customers and communities.”