Dear Neighbors, I hope all of you are doing well as we wrap up this week. I know our students and educators were glad to be back in the classroom this week, and at the Capitol, we’ve been focused on what the state can and should do to support our public schools. Many community members have reached out to me with questions and concerns about state funding for education. While the GOP has been focused on tax bailouts for the biggest corporations and tax cuts for the wealthiest Minnesotans, House DFLers are prioritizing education and workers. As we prepare to roll out our budget bills, I will have more news to share with you on this next week. In the meantime, I’d like to share some information about one of my bills to protect Minnesota workers. Protecting and Empowering Minnesota’s Warehouse Workers Work shouldn’t hurt, but for many Minnesotans who work in Amazon warehouses, it does. Amazon has created a quota system that treats warehouse workers like machines, forcing them to work at a grueling pace under constant electronic surveillance. Workers report pushing themselves to the brink, often skipping breaks that would allow them to eat, go to the bathroom, and pray, in order to meet quotas that are constantly changing and often not even shared with employees. One out of every nine of these workers is injured on the job. This is twice as high as the annual injury rate for other warehouses and four times higher than the rate for all workers in private industry.  When I heard these stories from current and former Amazon warehouse workers, I knew the legislature needed to act. I partnered with workers and local organizations like the Awood Center, and I introduced legislation to make warehouses safer and to stop Amazon’s dangerous practices from spreading to other workplaces and harming more Minnesotans. The Warehouse Worker Safety Bill I authored protects and empowers warehouse workers by: - Requiring Amazon and other companies that operate warehouses with more than 250 employees to provide workers with written notice of all the quotas they are subject to and how they are measured.
- Giving warehouse workers access to their own work speed data.
- Ensuring workers are able to take breaks for meals, using the restroom, and prayer and that warehouses are complying with workplace safety standards.
- Directing the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry to investigate compliance with this policy in any warehouses where the annual injury rate is 30 percent higher than the average rate for Minnesota’s warehouse industry.
The entire Minnesota House passed this bill with bipartisan support on Monday. It was the first time a bill I authored passed on its own, not as part of a larger bill, and some of the workers and advocates I partnered with were in the gallery to watch it pass!  If you’d like to learn more about the Warehouse Worker Safety Bill, you can watch my floor speech here or check out a fact sheet. The bill also received coverage in the Star Tribune, Pioneer Press, and Minnesota Reformer. Stay in TouchFeel free to reach out if you have any questions, ideas, or feedback. I always appreciate hearing from community members! The State Office Building is now open to the public on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Thursdays. If you have a chance to stop by, please let me know! My Legislative Assistant Sam O’Neill can help set up an in-person meeting. You can contact him by email at samuel.oneill@house.mn or call (651) 296-3305. Sincerely, Emma Greenman
State Representative |