The real cost of Amazon Prime is hidden in the lives of the thousands of workers routinely abused on the job. Working conditions in Amazon warehouses are gruesome. Amazon “pickers” pick products off the shelves, pack them, scan them with handheld scanners, and send them out for delivery. Many fulfillment centers demand pickers pick up 400 items per hour, or one item every nine seconds or face repercussions.

In some Amazon warehouses, workers have been found to have to urinate in trash cans to meet impossible performance quotas. During peak seasons, they are scheduled for 60-hour work weeks and many are injured on the job, or shortly after, due to exhaustion.

Amazon has failed time and time again to ensure safe working conditions; they have routinely suppressed workers’ attempts to unionize. Their headquarters and office expansions in New York, Virginia, and Tennessee, will not only lead to more worker abuses but also major setbacks to workers’ rights and labor protections.

Amazon claims their expansion will bring thousands of new jobs. But community members are sure the new white-collar jobs will not be for the working-class communities most in need of them. There’s also no guarantee any of the low-wage jobs will actually have worker protections.

Here’s the good news: We are seeing a groundswell of organizing happening across states against Amazon’s expansion and for workers’ rights. Because of the community's rallies, outreach, and calls to elected officials, Amazon and elected officials are starting to feel the pressure.

Your governor, a key negotiator in the deal with Amazon, must be held accountable to refuse to support Amazon’s expansion until they can ensure full worker protections. With your support, we can send a strong message to the governor to stop Amazon’s expansion until they can guarantee an end to all workers’ abuses.

Sign the petition to your Governor: End the labor abuses of Amazon workers. Stop the HQ2 scam.