WASHINGTON, Oct. 27 — As Amazon moves forward with plans to cut hundreds of thousands of American jobs, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Ranking Member of the Senate Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions (HELP) Committee, today wrote to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos asking for answers on how the company’s plans to automate warehouses will affect American workers.
Last week, the New York Times reported on Amazon’s immediate plans to replace over half a million jobs with robots, as well as its longer-term goals to fully automate its operations, a goal Bezos pushed for personally. Just yesterday, Reuters reported that Amazon would lay off as many as 30,000 workers beginning today.
“The pace of technological advancement in robotics and artificial intelligence has rapidly increased in just the past few years. These revolutionary technologies raise fundamental questions about who will benefit from these changes,” Sanders wrote. “If Amazon succeeds on its massive automation plan, it will have a profound impact on blue-collar workers throughout America and will likely be used as a model by large corporations throughout America, including Walmart and UPS, to displace tens of millions of jobs.”
Morgan Stanley estimated that Amazon’s efforts to replace warehouse workers with robots will save between $2 billion and $4 billion a year starting in 2027. But if Amazon’s estimates are correct, it could save $10 billion as a result of its automation plan in just a few years.
In his letter, Sanders asked: “Mr. Bezos: I have a simple question for you. What are Amazon’s plans to provide help and support for the many hundreds of thousands of workers you will be replacing with robots and AI? Are you going to simply dump these workers out on the street, or will you treat them with the dignity they deserve? Will you be providing a decent severance package for them? Will Amazon be maintaining their health care benefits? Will Amazon offer them a secure retirement plan? Or, will most of the savings and tax breaks simply be used to further enrich yourself and Amazon’s wealthy stockholders?”
Sanders also asked: “If Amazon and other large corporations replace tens of millions of workers with artificial intelligence (AI), robotics and other new technologies, who do you think is going to be able to buy the products you sell? Where are they going to get their income?”
Amazon’s rapid plan to replace workers with robots comes at a time when Amazon is in line to receive an estimated $15.7 billion tax break this year alone from Trump’s “Big Beautiful Bill,” and already receives billions of dollars in federal contracts. In spite of its economic success, Amazon depends on the federal government to subsidize the low wages it pays its workers through safety net programs, including SNAP benefits, Medicaid and affordable housing that its workers must rely on to survive.
Sanders concluded: “Given all the support that you have received from the taxpayers of this country, don’t you think that it might be appropriate to treat the American workers you are displacing with respect and compassion?”
Read the letter here.
