Several labor unions want the state Legislature to include $5 million in the next budget to improve warehouse worker safety and curtail negligent abuse, as recent state worker injury data shows warehouse employees suffer injuries four times more than the average New York worker.

Several workers and organizations are leading an effort to push lawmakers to include legislation in the FY 2024-2025 budget to mandate warehouses in the state have a safer design, and require experts annual identify potential hazards and needed repairs to reduce injuries.

“When a worker gets injured, it does not just destabilize their life, it ripples out to the lives of their communities and the people who depend on them," bill sponsor and Senate Labor Committee chair Jessica Ramos said. "Mega-corporations like Amazon have been allowed to accumulate profit literally off the back of workers."

The bill would cost $5 million to implement of the state's $233 billion spending plan.

Alliance for a Greater New York led several groups including the Retail Wholesale & Department Store Union, New York Teamsters and others, to rally for the bill in the state Capitol on Wednesday in wake of this week's release of Gov. Hochul's executive budget proposal.

Amazon warehouses rank among the state's most dangerous large warehouse facilities with the highest injury rates, according to recent state Occupational Safety and Health Administration data compiled by the National Employment Law Project. Amazon’s ALB1 distribution center in Schodack has the highest injury rate of 18.8 per 100 workers, or nearly one injury for every five employees — or about 165 workers sustaining serious injury each year.

Rates are cases per 100 full time employees. Data includes NYS Amazon warehouses with 500+ employees.
Source: NELP analysis of data from OSHA Injury Tracking Application, 2022.

Supporters argue the bill will hold employers accountable and prevent negligence to improve warehouse worker safety.

“Workplace health and safety is a top priority for our union,” Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum said in a statement. “Organizing workers in warehousing, we have seen first-hand what happens when employers prioritize the bottom line rather than workers’ lives. Warehouse workers are five times as likely to be injured on the job than workers in other private sector industries, and at Amazon warehouses it is even worse."

Advocates say roughly 1 in 12 workers are injured while working at Amazon facilities in the state, with serious injuries often forcing employees to miss work or transfer to other employment.

"The Legislature has a responsibility to make warehouse work a safe way to earn a living," Ramos said. "We want to give the Department of Labor the tools they need to make sure Amazon is a responsible employer, and the Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act is just the latest iteration of that effort."