Image via Reuters / Danny Moloshok //

He never stops…

While people across the world are suffering significant financial hardship during the COVID-19 pandemic, it seems Jeff Bezos is on another planet completely, still making billions upon billions. As of last week, his net worth improved by an insane $23.6 billion. Yeah, you read that right.

Over the past couple months, Amazon has seen a huge rise in business as people self-isolate across the globe. It’s had to hire thousands of new employees to deal with the increased demand, with an additional 175,000 on the way. It is also prioritising items that are classified as essential, with sanitisers and baby formula getting preferential treatment.

It seems not even the intense backlash Amazon is copping due to it’s alleged poor treatment of employees is doing anything to slow them down, with the shipping company being repeatedly accused of not adequately protecting staff against COVID-19 risks. The company has even fired employees who have openly criticised them for it’s response to COVID-19.

“We are calling out because Amazon is putting its revenue above our safety,” Jaylen Camp, an Amazon worker said. “We are not essential to them, they just think of us as numbers and quotas. They are not protecting our health.”

The news comes as an Amazon employee passed away last month due to COVID-19.

Fellow Amazonians: show Amazon that we will not stand for its attempt to censor our event to hear from our warehouse colleagues from our inboxes/calendars + the firing of @emahlee & @marencosta – Join our “Sick Out” on 4/24! Pledge to join here ⬇️ https://t.co/MsLbYkYUs1

— Amazon Employees For Climate Justice (@AMZNforClimate) April 20, 2020