‘Amazon Won’t Let Us Leave’
CYBER
VICE
4 • 645 Ratings
🗓️ 17 December 2021
⏱️ 36 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Deadly storms swept through parts of the U.S. last Friday, killing at least 90 people. Six of those worked in an Amazon warehouse in Illinois. As the deadly tornado hit the warehouse, the walls fell inward, the roof collapsed. Moments before his death, worker Larry Virden texted his girlfriend to say “Amazon won’t let us leave.”
If you’ve ever worked retail or shipping during the holidays, you know that what is a restful period of joy and relaxation for much of the world is a stressful nightmare for you. Winter brings inclement weather, icy roads, and snow. Sometimes the choice is either putting yourself in danger or losing your job.
This week on Cyber, Motherboard Senior Staff writer and expert on all things labor, Lauren Kaori Gurley explains Amazon’s policies around inclement weather, worker safety, and why OSHA has opened an investigation into what happened the night of the deadly Tornado in Illinois.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Beautiful. |
| 0:02.5 | Listen to that. |
| 0:05.7 | Tadden, it's got the code it's going to launch. |
| 0:10.4 | It's a unit system. |
| 0:12.7 | I know this. |
| 0:14.7 | It's how all the files of the whole park. |
| 0:16.9 | It tells you everything. |
| 0:18.7 | Sir, he's uploading the virus. |
| 0:21.4 | The Eagle One. The eagle one. |
| 0:22.2 | The package is being delivered. |
| 0:24.5 | Thank you, everyone in chat, for being patient. |
| 0:27.0 | Hello out there in cyberspace, soon to be the metaverse, if the billionaires have |
| 0:30.0 | their way. |
| 0:31.0 | Deadly storms swept through parts of the U.S. last Friday, killing at least 90 people, |
| 0:35.7 | six of those, worked in an Amazon warehouse |
| 0:38.3 | in Illinois. As the deadly tornado hit the warehouse, the walls fell inward, the roof collapsed. |
| 0:44.0 | Moments before his death, worker Larry Verdon texted his girlfriend to say, quote, Amazon won't let |
| 0:50.3 | us leave. Now, if you've ever worked retail during the holidays, you know that what is a |
| 0:55.6 | restful period of joy and relaxation for much of the world is a stressful nightmare for you. Winter |
| 1:01.6 | brings in climate weather, icy roads, and snow, and in my experience, sometimes the choice is |
| 1:07.0 | either putting yourself in danger or losing your job. |
| 1:15.3 | I'm here to talk with me about all of this as motherboard senior staff writer and expert on all things labor, Lauren Kajura Gurley, the Amazon warehouse collapse and the general |
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