Ice-T Trashes Amazon After Delivery Almost Ends in Tragic Shooting
Ice-T barely avoided shooting an Amazon delivery driver, and Amazon's faux apology was downright laughable. | Source: Shutterstock. Image Edited by CCN.com.
By CCN.com: Musician, rapper, songwriter, actor, record producer, and author Ice-T fired off a savage tweet at Amazon, not-so-kindly suggesting that Amazon delivery people should wear garments clearly identifying themselves as such.
The company’s abject failure to require this basic worker protection almost caused him to tragically shoot one delivery driver in self-defense.
Ice-T: Not Another Hollywood Hypocrite
Typically, it would be easy to jump all over some hypocritical Hollywood celebrity for whining about the Second Amendment and then pulling a gun.
In this case, however, Ice-T is a staunch Second Amendment advocate who also makes an excellent point about Amazon’s operational holes.
Nor is Ice-T the average citizen who has delivery people tromping about on his property on a regular basis. Spotting someone on his property has a different context because he’s a celebrity. They may very well be a bona fide threat.
Thus, Ice-T is absolutely right to scold Amazon on this matter.
Amazon Makes a Big-Time Fumble
While any delivery service should have proper identification garments for its workers, the fact that Amazon does not is conspicuous, considering it commands 5 percent of the retail sales market and has a boatload of cash.
How did Amazon respond? Dave Clark, SVP of Operations for Amazon, tweeted back:
https://twitter.com/davehclark/status/1130908273828290560
The reply smacks of a generic response, with just the “MF’ing” slapped onto it, so it’s unclear if Amazon got the point or not. “Lots of innovation” is coming? How innovative is a yellow vest that says “Amazon” on it?
At the very least, Amazon can use something comical such as:
Another Amazon department replied to Ice-T regarding the matter:
That response was greeted with an appropriate rebuttal from another tweeter:
Amazon, Uber, and Lyft All Treat Workers Badly
This scenario brings to light an ongoing controversy in the American labor market. Amazon, along with Uber and Lyft, benefits greatly from its workforce yet also treats workers horribly.
Workers have gone public with criticism of their work conditions.
Rashad Long is known as a “picker” who must select items from fulfillment centers for shipping at a rate of 400 per hour, or one every seven seconds. He told The Guardian earlier this year:
“We are not robots. We are human beings. We cannot come into work after only four hours of sleep and be expected to be fully energized and ready to work. That’s impossible. I feel like all the company cares about is getting their products out to the customers as quickly humanly as possible, no matter what that means for us workers in the end.”
Will Amazon Workers Unionize?
Another Amazon worker who spoke anonymously to The Guardian advocates for unionization:
“Amazon is a very big company. They need to have a union put in place. They overwork you and you’re like a number to them. During peak season and Prime season, they give you 60 hours a week. In July, I had Prime week and worked 60 hours. The same day I worked overtime, I got into a bad car accident because I was falling asleep behind the wheel.”
Ice-T highlights a simple issue that should have been fixed long ago.
While workers are not always going to be treated with care and respect, Amazon does owe them a minimal duty of care, especially given the wealth created as a result of its meteoric stock rise.
Disclaimer: The views expressed in the article are solely those of the author and do not represent those of, nor should they be attributed to, CCN.com.
