Living in Chicago for 50 years the conventional wisdom is tornadoes rarely hit the city. Climate change has thrown conventional wisdom out the window.
I have a tornado alarm on my smart phone. Twice this year we have grabbed our dog Ulysses and headed for the basement when the alarm went off.
My smart phone is my reliable source for warning of dangerous weather and it is rarely out of my reach.
My thoughts are with the warehouse workers in Edwardsville, six of whom were killed when the warehouse collapsed after being hit by a historically huge tornado.
Amazon made warehouse workers leave their phones behind before entering work even though there were general warnings of dangerous weather in the Midwest and the Edwardsville area all day.
Tornadoes of any size are rare in December.
Climate change has changed what is rare when it comes to weather.
Last night’s tornado is shining a light on the concerns among its warehouse workers work about the return of Amazon’s phone ban in work areas.
Amazon had for years prohibited workers from carrying their phones on warehouse floors, requiring them to leave them in vehicles or employee lockers before passing through security checks that include metal detectors. The company backed off during the pandemic, but has been gradually reintroducing it at facilities around the country.
Amazon employees are speaking out that they want access to information such as updates on potentially deadly weather events through their smartphones -- without interference from Amazon.
The phone ban further illustrates the vulnerability of Amazon workers who have been without union representation.
Amazon declined to address the concerns raised by workers about its phone policy.
The concerns about phone access highlight the deep distrust between executives who make rules focused on productivity and efficiency to gain a competitive advantage, and hourly front-line workers who often fear their safety is secondary to moving packages.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, the world’s wealthiest man after Elon Musk, only fueled such feelings by spending the earlier part of Saturday celebrating a celebrity space launch by his company Blue Origin while emergency crews at the warehouse dug through rubble looking for bodies.
The weather service sent a warning at about 8 p.m. local time Friday, about 30 minutes before the storm collapsed the Edwardsville Amazon delivery station.
But without their smart phones, Amazon’s warehouse workers never heard the warning.