Sunflower State News

U.S. Senators Roger Marshall (R-Kansas) and Edward J. Markey (D-Massachusetts) have reintroduced the Warehouse Worker Protection Act, a bill aimed at prohibiting quotas in warehouses that lawmakers say put worker safety at risk and contribute to high injury rates. The legislation comes as warehouse employment has grown with the expansion of shipping and online shopping, affecting nearly 2 million workers across the country.

Senator Marshall said, “Amid the vast expansion of shipping and online shopping, the warehouse workers keeping this economy moving have been left behind. For too long, companies have been implementing outlandish quotas, cutting into workers’ rights and leading to injuries. That ends with this bill. I’m proud to support Senator Markey in providing proper protections for workers, ending the fear of abusive quotas.”

Senator Markey added, “Workers deserve to clock in knowing they will return home safe and healthy at the end of their shift. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act would protect the basic health and dignity of workers from corporate bosses who time and again have prioritized unfettered greed and profit over their own people. I am proudly in solidarity with nearly two million warehouse workers nationwide in the fight to ensure that their rights, safety, and dignity are protected.”

The bill is cosponsored by Senators Tina Smith (D-Minnesota), Josh Hawley (R-Missouri), Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont), Alex Padilla (D-California), Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut), Peter Welch (D-Vermont), Elizabeth Warren (D-Massachusetts), and Chris Murphy (D-Connecticut).

Senator Smith stated, “Corporate profits should never be placed above the safety and dignity of American workers. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act ends secret, aggressive productivity metrics and surveillance methods used by major companies, and instead puts power back in the hands of the workers who experience these conditions every day. Workers should never have to choose between their health and their next paycheck, and should not be harmed in service of corporate greed – this bill takes an important step in establishing safe, just workplaces for all.”

Senator Hawley commented on industry practices: “Corporations need to prioritize their workers’ safety and well-being over profits. This bipartisan legislation will hold the warehouse industry accountable while combating the industry’s worst practices. It’s time to put workers’ safety first and treat them with the dignity they deserve.”

The measure has received endorsements from several organizations including International Brotherhood of Teamsters, National Employment Law Project (NELP), Athena Coalition, and Oxfam America.

Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien said about employer practices: “Amazon and other abusive warehouse employers are squeezing their workers for every penny of profit, leaving behind tired and broken bodies. These corporate criminals are destroying good jobs in an industry that once supported a strong middle class. But one thing stands in their way—that’s the Teamsters Union, along with a bipartisan coalition of lawmakers who understand what’s at stake. It’s time to pass the Warehouse Worker Protection Act and put workers’ safety over corporate profits.”

Patricia Stottlemyer from Oxfam America noted concerns about workplace conditions: “Everyone deserves a guarantee of safety and dignity on the job, but retail giants like Amazon are raking in record profits on the backs of their workers, subjecting them to incredibly high rates of injury, unsustainable pace pressures, and punitive surveillance systems,” she said.

Terrysa Guerra from United for Respect highlighted accountability issues: “For too long, multi-billion dollar corporations like Walmart and Amazon have gotten away with forcing warehouse workers to meet unreasonable daily quotas — leading to countless injuries on the job — just so they can grow their profits. It’s long past time for that to change,” she said.

Irene Tung from NELP described ongoing challenges: “We are facing a workplace injury crisis in warehouses across America,” she said.

Supporters argue that current quota systems combined with digital monitoring contribute significantly to unsafe work environments for employees handling logistics for large retailers.