Cori Bush to Amazon: “Shut Up and Work” Is Not a Climate Disaster Plan

When Amazon wouldn’t let a team of warehouse workers pause their shifts in a deadly storm, the results were predictable—and it wasn’t the first time. Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.) wants to make it the last.

Bush, a House freshman whose district stretches across the St. Louis area, is introducing a climate-focused worker protection bill motivated by a December tornado that killed two constituents. They were among six workers killed in the collapse of an Illinois Amazon warehouse where, according to a lawsuit filed by one of their families, managers told employees they would be fired if they fled. Investigators with the Occupational Health and Safety Administration found other issues with the facility and its tornado plan, but didn’t find the company liable for the deaths, nor impose any kind of penalty. There’s no federal law or regulation that meant the warehouse had to close, or that the company couldn’t fire staff who left to find shelter. Bush’s bill would make a dent in that, guaranteeing workers job protection and paid emergency leave during a wide range of climate disasters.