Amazon will not bring good jobs to Gorham. There is a reason that wherever Amazon goes, protests often follow, why Amazon boycotts are so common, and why Amazon workers have repeatedly risked retaliation to unionize despite aggressive anti-union campaigns: Amazon’s warehouses are exceptionally dangerous places to work.

In 2024, the U.S. Senate investigated worker safety in Amazon warehouses. The findings were clear: Amazon’s obsession with speed leads to significantly higher injury rates than those at similar facilities.

Amazon points to its safety trainings and procedures. In practice, workers can’t realistically follow safety protocols and still meet productivity quotas. Amazon’s failure to provide safe working conditions has led to debilitating injuries that follow workers long after they leave the warehouse floor — which might be sooner than people think. Amazon actively discourages injured workers from seeking outside medical care and even fires injured workers while they are on approved medical leave, leading to very high turnover.

Amazon knows about this connection between its speed requirements and worker injuries, but refuses to make changes because doing so might slow productivity. Amazon also manipulates workplace injury data to make its facilities seem safer, misleading federal agencies and sidestepping workplace safety regulations.

Taken together, these findings reveal a business model that puts the cost of unnecessary speed on workers’ bodies and, ultimately, their communities. When Mainers weigh the pros and cons of this project, we must consider how Amazon operates and the human toll that comes with inviting this company into our state.

Joshua Trombley
Gorham