Amazon’s Daniel Olayiwola Fights For Worker Rights With His Podcast
In May 2022, Daniel Olayiwola, A 29 -year -old picker in an Amazon warehouse in San Antonio, spoke during the Society shareholders’ meeting. As an employee, he held a small number of purchase options for acquired shares which he was able to buy, making him an official shareholder, but a warehouse worker had never presented a proposal during the annual collection before, which is generally dominated by the main investors focused on Amazon’s plans to increase benefits and dividends.
Towards the end of the virtual meetingThe Amazon moderator played the two -minute recording that Colayiwola had sent in advance. In the statement, Oleyiwola said he proposed a resolution to end the company’s “injury crisis” by getting rid of productivity quotas and surveillance mechanisms that push workers to prioritize the safety of the safety of fear of losing their jobs.
“I personally felt the physical assessment of working for Amazon,” he said in recording. “I saw my colleagues work for exhaustion.”
THE resolution He submitted included quotes from news surveys,, research studiesand a Government inspection report collectively showing that injuries in Amazon warehouses were higher than in non -Amazon warehouses thanks to Conditions that sometimes violated labor laws.
In the Overview he sent to shareholders Before the meeting, Amazon opposed calls for a change in policy by noting that its “workers’ incident rate” has decreased since 2019. “Security is an integral part of everything we do at Amazon, as has shown our relentless accent on health and safety training, commitment with employees and refinement of our processes to improve working conditions,” said the company. “Our commitment to supporting the well-being and success of our employees is demonstrated by our competitive remuneration and our benefits.”
In a press release answering questions from this story, the spokesperson for Amazon, Sam Stephenson, defended the expectations of the productivity of the company, which, according to him, is “based on time and mandate, peer performance and adherence to safe work practices”, and its use of surveillance, which, according to him, is “a common practice in almost all major retailers” The quality of the inventory or the protection against the world “.
When Oleyiwola’s recording ended, a heavy silence fell on the line. Then, the moderator noted that Amazon recommended shareholders to vote against the resolution. And most have done so, flowing the proposal.
Oleyiwola did not know if he had just cost him his work.
“I was super afraid to speak for the longest, but I thought, as, Dude, they have already dismissed all those you know. Consider yourself just fired“He said.” I continued to think, They could dismiss you at any time, and if they do it, nothing you say will be of importance. Say what you say right now while you are here, so they can’t say that I just talk because I was dismissed.“”
Amazon spokesman Stephenson said that Oleyiwola’s work was not in danger because “reprisals of all kinds were not tolerated”.
But Oleyiwola did not know what to expect when he showed up at the warehouse next week. On the way to his workstation, he said, a manager arrested him. To his surprise, the manager told Olayiwola that he had respected him for speaking. But, he added, work in an Amazon warehouse was even better than most alternatives. “You might have much worse,” said Olayiwola.
He was not dismissed. But none of his proposals have been set up.
So last summer, he started a podcast with the provocative title Surviving ScamazonPublishing short episodes on YouTube, so far seven in all, monologues of two to 10 minutes each focusing on different slices of business policy and how they affect workers. The videos have not obtained more than a few hundred views and are far from the polished productions of full -time creators, but they represent a remarkable case of a non -unionized worker and at low wages creating an independent channel to call publicly and not anonymously the company that actively uses them. Oleyiwola hopes that his initiative is pushing others to contribute to their voice, perhaps one day forming a vast digital choir which demands the responsibility of companies.
“The sooner we open a dialogue, the earlier we can start understanding what’s going on and seeing what we can try to change or repair,” he said in the First of all Episode, which increased in July.
The podcast is only part of its efforts to amplify its message. In the past year, he has do interviews with At least four media have published a spur in fortune, and voluntary As a leader of United for respect, a defense group that campaigns on behalf of retail workers.
“Everyone was so afraid to speak,” he said. “I felt like I should do something to inspire others to say to their work experiences on Amazon.”
