Washington (July 31, 2025) - Senator Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.), member of the Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, along with Senators Tina Smith (D-Minn.) and Josh Hawley (R-Mo.) and Representatives Donald Norcross (NJ-01), Mike Lawler (NY-17), and Haley Stevens (MI-11), today reintroduced the bipartisan, bicameral Warehouse Worker Protection Act, legislation to prohibit dangerous speed quotas and that threaten warehouse worker safety and lead to high injury rates. The legislation is cosponsored by Senators Roger Marshall (R-Kan.), Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Alex Padilla (D-Calif.), Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), and Chris Murphy (D-Conn.).
Major corporations often institute speed and productivity quotas for warehouse workers that force workers past their physical limits, leading to high injury rates. One in 15 Amazon warehouse workers is injured at work seriously enough to need days off or light duty to recover. Nearly 2 million Americans work in warehouses nationwide.
The Warehouse Worker Protection Act would institute the basic standards necessary to ensure all workers experience a safe and dignified workplace. The bill would prohibit the use of dangerous speed quotas that rely on intrusive surveillance, interfere with workers’ ability to use the bathroom and take guaranteed breaks, and push workers past safe physical limits. The bill would also prohibit measures that prevent workers from exercising their right to unionize.
“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,” said Senator Markey. “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.”
“Corporations need to prioritize their workers’ safety and well-being over profits. This bipartisan legislation will hold the warehouse industry accountable while combatting the industry’s worst practices. It’s time to put workers’ safety first and treat them with the dignity they deserve,” said Senator Hawley.
“Corporate profits should never be placed above the safety and dignity of American workers,” said Senator Smith. “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.”
“In 2022, three New Jersey warehouse workers tragically died on the job within weeks of each other, bringing attention to working conditions and injury rates in warehouses. Businesses can keep workers safe and earn a profit, but that’s only possible with more transparency and accountability,” said Congressman Norcross. “As a former electrician, I know firsthand what it’s like to lose a coworker on the job. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act takes necessary steps to ensure everyone can come home from work safely.”
“Amid the vast expansion of shipping and online shopping, the warehouse workers keeping this economy moving have been left behind,” said Senator Marshall. “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.”
“Amazon and other abusive warehouse employers are squeezing their workers for every penny of profit, leaving behind tired and broken bodies,” said Teamsters General President Sean M. O’Brien. “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.”
“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,” said Patricia Stottlemyer, Labor Rights Policy Lead at Oxfam America. “The re-introduction of the Warehouse Worker Protection Act is a critical step toward finally securing the safeguards and protections that these workers desperately need.”
“Every day, we face unrealistic quotas and unsafe conditions just to keep our jobs at Amazon. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act gives us hope that our lives and safety will finally matter more than productivity rates. We fought for this law — and with support from Awood Center and national coalitions like Athena, we made it happen. Now we need Amazon to comply with the law or face consequences. It’s been in effect for a year, and they’re still falling short,” said an Amazon warehouse worker, supported by Awood Center, a worker center in Minnesota that uplifts East African immigrant workers.
“At a time when Amazon warehouse workers like me are being injured at twice the rate as workers at other warehouses, this bill is a monumental step forward to holding companies like Amazon accountable and finally getting the workplace protections we deserve,” said Ronald “Mr. Ron” Sewell, an Amazon associate at ATL6 in Georgia and leader with United for Respect. “My coworkers and I are constantly putting our safety at risk to meet Amazon’s backbreaking productivity quotas, and we’ve had enough. Our lives are not expendable - we need real change to improve safety on the job, and this bill will help make that a reality.”
“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,” said Terrysa Guerra, Co-Executive Director of United for Respect. “These protections for warehouse workers will usher in a new era of accountability for these companies, and most importantly, will help improve workplace safety for hundreds of thousands of low-wage warehouse workers. United for Respect is thrilled to support this legislation.”
“We've seen that when workers try to meet unattainable distribution center quotas, they get hurt; when they file for workers comp for their injuries, they get denied or fired. The Warehouse Worker Protection Act will protect workers from harm and blatant violation of their rights in an industry that treats them as expendable, and lead to safer, more dignified working conditions for the people who make life easier for the rest of us. Since New York's version of this law went into effect in June, warehouse workers have already been feeling more secure in their rights. That's something every single worker in the country deserves to feel—and why it's so important that we pass the federal Warehouse Worker Protection Act as soon as possible,” said Vanessa Cid, Labor Organizer at For the Many.
“Amazon’s greed has created a nationwide worker injury crisis as they put profit over people time and time again,” said Theodore A. Moore, Executive Director of ALIGN, leader of the New Yorkers for a Fair Economy coalition. “We’re proud of the work we’ve done to regulate warehouse safety in New York, but it’s time to take federal action and ensure that one of the richest companies in the world keeps their workers safe everywhere. We applaud Senator Markey’s leadership and urge Governor Hochul to lead the way with strong enforcement of New York’s Warehouse Worker Injury Reduction Act.”
“We are facing a workplace injury crisis in warehouses across America,” said Irene Tung, Senior Researcher and Policy Analyst at the National Employment Law Project. “NELP’s research has found that the digital surveillance and disciplinary practices at companies like Amazon create a climate of fear for workers and astronomically high injury rates at warehouses. We urgently need the Warehouse Worker Protection Act to rein in these abuses and support workers’ right to organize for autonomy and safety on the job.”
The Warehouse Worker Protection Act is endorsed by the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, the National Employment Law Project (NELP), the Athena Coalition, and Oxfam America.
In May 2024, Senator Markey, along with Senator Smith and then Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.), first introduced the Warehouse Worker Protection Act. In September 2024, Senator Markey celebrated the bipartisan momentum growing behind the bill.
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