Fire Reported At Another Amazon Warehouse In New York

NEW YORK (AP) — A fireplace broke out late Wednesday at an Amazon facility in upstate New York that’s voting in a union election subsequent week.

The hearth on the warehouse, positioned close to Albany within the city of Schodack, started round 10:50 p.m. and lasted till shortly after midnight, in line with Schodack police . It’s the third fireplace at an Amazon warehouse this week.

Amazon described the incident as a small fireplace contained to a compactor positioned simply exterior the doorways of a loading dock.

Responding businesses stopped the fireplace from spreading to the construction of the constructing, Schodack police stated. They stated the fireplace was doubtless brought on by mechanical failure. Employees have been evacuated and no accidents have been reported.

Fireplace division officers declared the constructing protected following a preliminary investigation, Amazon stated.

“Out of an abundance of warning, we despatched night time shift workers residence with pay and canceled Thursday’s day shift,” Amazon spokesperson Paul Flaningan stated. The employees whose shifts have been canceled can even be paid, he stated.

In a tweet Thursday, the Amazon Labor Union stated it was glad employees got day off, however known as it “concurrently infuriating” the corporate suspended employees at one other facility this week for demanding related compensation.

On Tuesday, Amazon suspended dozens of warehouse employees who refused to work following a cardboard compactor fireplace at a facility on Staten Island that voted to unionize earlier this yr.

Union organizers stated day-shift employees at that warehouse have been despatched residence with pay after Monday’s late-afternoon fireplace. Night time shift employees didn’t get the identical possibility, although many raised considerations the air wouldn’t be protected to breathe due to smoke and fumes ensuing from the blaze.

Flaningan stated on Wednesday that the corporate requested all night time shift workers on the Staten Island warehouse to report back to their shifts after fireplace officers licensed the constructing as protected. However dozens refused and held a sit-down protest on the facility’s essential workplace, demanding to be despatched residence with pay.

Individually, one other fireplace broke out Monday at a facility in Alabama.