in the midst of the coronavirus there's been a lot of talk about amazon being too big not. and this is a moment when it's on could actually look our site is a benefit but we've been doing a been if it to the country and they've been bungling it so our. bet amazon has called the workers' accusations completely unfounded and said that it has taken extreme measures to make sure employees are safe while on the job which has been an issue they face well before the coronavirus what do we know about steps that amazon either has or has not taken. well look what we know this we know that in at least 10 amazon warehouses there have been people who were. in those warehouses who have contract id the coronavirus 1000 we know in most cases according to worse has not notified where some employees instead said in between shit they're going in and they're cleaning the warehouse it for us that there was you know i'm sure that 6 feet apart and that keeps everyone safe but we weaved even on the. workers from elsewhere say that they are looking early actions on their social media from fake or f

risks and amazon warehouse in new york has already been exposed to the virus amazon staffers are concerned so are members of the u.s. congress and the failure of amazon to keep its workers safe there's not just put their employees at risk it puts the entire country at risk americans who are taking every precaution might risk getting infected with cove 19 because of amazon's decision to prioritize efficiency and profits over the safety and well being of its workforce or gap my mother about corona virus or amazon's problems we know what to do knowing we can feed them disregard for the value of our lives. you can tell us that we got it right by now amazon has been kinder to its employees in light of the pandemic it has extended shade over time however the fact that if amazon employees get exposed to code that 1000 on the job they have to beg for private charity doesn't exactly make jeff days those look like the world's greatest boss. reply. baze those $70000000000.00 they're worth over a $1000000.00 is an individual call upon the american people in this time who are credible 'd hardship self-

amazon services are going up.y actually benefit from this pandemic, which i don't think that's their intention, but as spencer pointed out, only handling essential goods, their centers are packed to bursting, and they can't sell everything. again, yeah, i think that the can't getparty vendor his toys run through the warehouse because they're busy groceries tock with and essentials. bad for od and everybody else. emi emily: i've got kids at home. been trying to buy books, a white board and school supplies, nd i haven't been able to get those things, and certainly doesn't compare to things like sanitizer and toilet paper, but you can just imagine the backlog that this is creating amazon. what about some of the other names, michael, that you cover? example, which i'll admit, i've also used a few times this week just to get hrough the day >> i mean, clearly, the investor netflix is a that huge beneficiary, and i think that they are. i'm not sure that it means their is worth more, but there's two things we're going to

the car coach tells us what we could be there or what could be coming for the auto industry plus amazon workers across the country come forward with stories about working conditions and safety after more positive cases of covert 19 but 1st let's start by talking about. the global death toll still on the rise with more than 25000 people and nearly 555000 back to the united states now leads with the most confirmed cases in the world with more than 86000 infected and nearly 1300 fatalities new hotspots are emerging across the u.s. and chicago detroit and new orleans vice president mike pence downplayed trumps comments over reopening the economy by easter saying the president expressed really an aspirational goal as we continue to follow the data on thursday g. 20 leaders held a virtual meeting where they vowed to work together to combat the virus we talked about the problem. and hopefully won't be a problem for too much longer the united states is working with their friends and partners around the world to stop the spread of the virus and coordinate our efforts we discussed how vitally imp

amazon shares ending the day down 3%. amazon closing a warehouse in the u.s. indefinitely due to employees at the warehouse testing positive for the coronavirus. this has happened a couple places across the web and is happening in europe. if you are a customer it is difficult to get what you want on amazon right now. and if you are buying online, talking about almost any vendor, it is difficult to get what you want. i wonder how positive the e-commerce story actually is under the circumstances. laura: i would say it is certainly not immune. that being said, we have seen a pick up in demand and activity. there is a lot of differentiation within e-commerce i would point out. we have seen the larger players do better during this period, but e-commerce players focused specifically, especially in apparel, you can imagine a lot of people are staying at home these days so there is not and not -- a lot of demand for new clothes, so we have seen those online retailers struggle. in contrast, not necessarily companies focused on e-commerce but are regular retailers with

of the coven 100-1000 company warehouses well as of friday there are at least 10 amazon warehouses in the u.s. where workers have tested positive for the cove 19 and yet many of the workers say that they are only learning of this through rumors others say they're learning about it on social media through posts on facebook and set of through the company for instance in detroit an amazon warehouse worker kelly market tosh butler says she learned of a coworker contracting the virus from a facebook post frustrated with the lack of transparency is tipped off local for news which received information or confirmation from amazon on tuesday so why isn't the company telling workers about potential exposure well joining us now to discuss this but so post an investigative journalist been so on then why is it why are workers finding out about this through social media posts and many of them workers only come from the infections after confronting management about this or hearing news from local news stations why isn't amazon being up front with its workers. yeah i think the answer to that unfortun

you need, you will order at home from amazon. at the same time you could have something happen like, you know, one much their workers as they said tested positive. then we have no idea where this virus is going. they could tell us tomorrow it would be transmitted x, y, z, way, all of sudden thought it was safe to get stuff from amazon. i'm not saying that hasn't happened but we keep learning every day that there is so much we don't know about the virus. what do you think about amazon given all of that? >> i like it. i think susan sums it up. melissa: gary, we're not letting you talk. i'm kidding. paul, go first. then we'll let you talk. paul, go ahead. >> i'm optimistic. melissa: that's why you're going first. >> somebody should be designated to big to fail in this environment, that should be amazon. if your family is anything like mine, we rely, continue to rely heavily on amazon. i agree some delivery issues have been frustrating. what is concerning as you look at supply chain, delivery operation amazon has, right now it seems

not just amazon.cart that delivers for likes of walmart, target. 200,000 people work at instacart. half of them walking off the job, protesting what they call unsanitary conditions. they're requesting, sanitizer, wipes, hope, hazard pay of five dollars extra per order. instacart in reaction over the last month our team has had a unwavering commitment to prioritize the entire instacart community. it is not just instacart and amazon that online orders are surging. there is a rush to the got orders filled. whole foods market saying some employees are going on sick-out on march 31st. there is a call for a group trying to unionize whole foods workers. what they're looking for, they're looking for hazard pay in these coronavirus times, and health coverage for seasonal workers. there is a lot of demand, guys. but also to fulfill the demand, you need workers and the workers want to work in safe conditions. that is what they're protesting right now. melissa: right. they're making a lot more money right now, su

that's just one example of a price surge that an amazon shopper discovered recently. amazon is suspending thousands of accounts because of price gouging that pop up has details. >>everything is just ridiculously priced. >>susie not has been frustrated during this pandemic she frequently shops on amazon for groceries and other items. but recently she claims the prices haven't been the same kind of hit mass for example she was shopping for cheerios to buy for her husband saw most of the boxes were sold out everything and i have a little. look at it and it was. for the 2 boxes. and she's not alone. multiple people have been taking to social media claiming they've seen prices skyrocket that's why amazon is spending nearly 4,000 accounts for allegedly price gouging customers a things like cereal and emergency powder. yeah, he is defying your regular. >>and household supplies and things are. >>we reached out to amazon and no one got back to us but earlier this week they posted to their company block saying they are quote making clear to all of our sellers, our longstanding

this is going to hit amazon, though, as well.of these retailers pay for ad space in amazon. but what amazon are doing at the moment is prioritising the items which we, the public, are finding difficult to get, like bleach, sanitising wipes, baby products, and they are taking rapid action and also venting up rapid action and also venting up their workforce to meet that demand. my personal opinion is it is the right approach for this point in time. and finally, focus day, a magazine in germany, talks about the big brother household there, who had to be told what is going on in the real world —— big brother. they have been in the big brother house for a month and have no clue about what is going on with this pandemic, and also their own families, if they are impacted. i mean, reality tv shows can't go without controversy, right? this show has been off air in germany for five years, and it has come back with a big bang. in the show, they went on 10th of february, they are only being told now, publicly, that the country is in lockdown

but now amazon has cracked. down in fact the nation's largest online retailer has reportedly suspended as many as $4000.00 accounts for reportedly violating its fair pricing policies joining us now to break this down but co-host an investigative journalist bence $1.00 ben let's start with amazon why what are they saying about these these accounts and why have they been suspended. yes and what is amazon is simply saying is that about 4000 different accounts about half a 1000000 items they say have been removed from the site because they claim that these sellers are violating their fair practices policy essentially saying that they are selling items like hand sanitizers and facemasks certain kinds of cleaners and that they're marking those prices up we would call it price gouging right and so what amazon is saying these they removed not only these from the web site but they've actually taken a step further than that they also say that they are sharing the information with state's attorneys general and federal regu

then it will see an immediate shift in consumer behavior or will be once the virus subsides bust amazon crack down on the thousands of users for price gouging we have a show for you today so let's go and dive right in. the krona virus pandemic is changing life as we know it will toll now surpassed about $17000.00 with more than 395000 total confirmed cases india's prime minister declared a $21.00 day nationwide lockdown extending the restrictions to the entire country of 1400000000 people countries across europe are also looking to extend nationwide lockdowns deaths are declining in italy for the 2nd day in a row offering a glimpse of hope italy had a world record death toll of about 793 on saturday that number declined to 601 on monday in spain things are worsening as the death toll jumped by 514 in just one day now according to data and nearly 14 percent of spain's total reported cases are health workers but on a positive note emergency service workers gathered outside the hospital clinic in barcelona to join in cheers as police officers led a tribute for health care workers as they i

targets for a virus so workers at amazon in the united states go on strike saying they're not being protected enough from the pandemic and german football clubs agree to extend the suspension until the end of april but could the season resume with empty stadium. good to have you with us today across spain people pause for one minute to mourn and remember the wives that have been lost to the coronavirus the country's death toll is the 2nd highest in europe behind italy the number of sick and needing care in spain is growing pushing the country's health care system to its limits and yet the government today said that there is reason for cautious hope a minute of silence in madrid after the deadliest day yet in spain's corona virus outbreak. the city and much of the country are on lockdown following other european nations. a senior health official who has been infected appeared fia video link to praise measures taken so far but with a warning. and his days to come the analysis from last week in certain regions shows that the measures are little by little having the desired effect now it wouldn't

first up amazon boss jeff bezos saved himself over $300000000.00 by dumping $3400000000.00 in amazon stock before the coded $1000.00 pandemic hit the united states and he's not the only one a number of high profile execs have done exactly the same just under $10000000000.00 worth collectively of stock was dumped by corporate bigwigs between february 1st. and march 19th leaving many wondering if anything suspicious was going on so joining us to explain investigative journalist and co-host of boom bust ben swan weighs in all right ben so bezos made this transaction in early february so he was way ahead of the coronavirus curve taking center stage do you think he was just i guess ahead of what was coming or do you think there was something else that might have motivated him to dump the stock. you know i don't believe for a minute that he was somehow the swami and had this feeling like the markets were just suddenly going to go down and so he decided around february 11th to sell more stock than he sold in all of the previous year and 2019 in 12 months he sold less stock than he did in ju

shame on amazon. that's it. actually -- we reached out to amazon for a statement on some of the claims you have made. have taken"we extreme measures to keep people safe, trickling down on deep cleaning, procuring safety supplies that are available, changing businesses to ensure those in our building are keeping safe distances." they also addressed you and some of your comments, and i want you to be able to respond to this. they said we have heard a number of incorrect comments from kristin smalls. he is on a 14 day self-quarantine requested by amazon to stay home with full pay. he was placed in quarantine after abundance of caution because we notified him he may have close contact with someone at the building who was diagnosed. chris: all false. emily: i will let you respond to that. so, what is true in your view? chris: they are lying through their teeth. i have been in the building every day. in and out that building up until saturday, which is my last day of work. which i have not been at work. i have been at

amazon, over the years, this increasing amount of staple spend going on at amazon.e just saw this news announcement that amazon is hiring more employees to keep up with the surgeon and demand. ,arts of amazon will be week but parts will probably be strengthened by what we are seeing now. finally, there is the cloud business, a cost-inefficient way to run your business. i think that would only be modestly impacted. additionalng an 100,000 workers. times noticed delivery getting pushed farther out, being more scarce. you talk about alibaba as an of the companies that will most be negatively impacted here. what do you see? mark: they are about as close to ground central as you can get. in all fairness, it looks like they may have gone through the worst of it. they had a supply seizure. they just could not get people in the streets to deliver products. like their careers are back out in the streets in most cities in china, delivering great so they may have already seen the worst of the impact. if that is the case, that aba the virus iser, if as reasonably well contained

i want to bring in matt day, covers amazon. amazon has come up with a new plan to stock the essentials, and not the nonessentials like television sets. tell us how this plan will work. >> they sent a letter to merchants and big vendors this morning saying if you are not selling one of those hot categories of basically virus essentials, they are not accepting anything inbound from you. the demand they have seen in the last week or two. need: does that mean, if i toilet paper or hand sanitizer, that i can get it and get it quickly? matt: certainly not yet. i did a search a few minutes ago for paper towels and there is not a a lot of inventory. there seems to be a plan to try to keep more in stock but a lot of this will depend on the supply chain, amazon, and everyone else trying to sell the same stuff. emily: amazon announced yesterday they are hiring 100,000 new workers down keep things running. i understand about five workers have taken ill in spain and italy in their warehouses. we heard about the case at headquarters in seatt

while the rest of us present company excluded are staying at home quarantining ordering things on amazon and groceries from apps like insta cart so they're still having to go out there and be in touch and contact with people or possibly have this virus amazon warehouse these workers went on strike on staten island new york city specifically because one of their colleagues came down with the virus with cove in 1000 was sent home but there was in transparency in how it was communicated and they're worried that they were exposed this person and they demanded that amazon shut down the warehouse and let everybody go home then at whole foods and insta cart their worries are that they're being exposed to this virus and that their pain is not reflecting that and that they if they want to go home and get away from the area they'll have to take a pay cut for that now let's take a look at one of the insta card workers what they had to say about the situation i just fear that the company that you know are allowing these things to go on and basically capitalizing off of this. pandemic. going to have

is that affecting amazon now? do you need things from the federal government now?re working cooperatively with the administration and have notwithstanding some of the commenting we've seen from the president about amazon, i think mostly directed or generated because of his unhappiness with the "washington post," which is not an amazon property but which jeff owns. i know my team is plugged ed g throughout the administration, jeff has been on the phone calls with president trump, where president trump said he appreciated what amazon is doing on the front lines and getting goods to americans and also by hiring at a time when so many companies are having lay workers off. we're happy with the cooperation we've gotten. >> good to hear. jay, thank you very much. thanks for being here. >> thank you, bye-bye. >> for more on all of this sign up for our nightly "reliable sources" news letter, sign up at cnn.it/reliable. >>> up next on the program, what happens when reality is more horrifying than the strangest fiction? i will ask best selling horror author stephen king. lls?

at amazon they wanted to shut down the warehouse.nd actually the person who organized the strike was immediately fired afterwards. this has caused a lot of commotion. even new york mayor bill de blasio has spoken out about this. brent: people depend on especially amazon more than ever right now. so you would think that the workers would have more leverage. how effective have the strikes been so far? amien: there is no evidence that they have been effective as strikes, because they have not really been able to shut down production, probably because of the low number of people who are actually participating in the strikes, but also because these companies are massively expanding. amazon is hiring hundreds of thousands of workers to put up with the increase in demand, as is instacart. but it has been a good bliss of the campaign. so -- good publicity campaign. bernie sanders for example, he said these are some of the most important workers in america right now, and pay should reflect that. you also have alexandria ocasio-cortez speak ou

made amazon so special, amazon was not just a retail company.hey didn't just sell goods they handled the entire logistics birds if you buy a package from amazon i will get a text saying your packets obey your door in three hours and 30 minutes or less. and it's amazing because they own the entire supply chain they are vertically integrated. nikola is the same way. when you buy a truck you have to buy fuel and service and warranty, we wanted to simplify the whole thing, stabilize the whole thing like amazon did for e-commerce why do a nikola issue lisa truck, we cover the fuel, the warranty, the maintenance everything for each of the owner no longer has to deal for any of that stuff. it's all zero emission from the beginning to end and it's cheaper to operate and diesel. that's the first time in history that zero emission has been competitive with diesel. maria: i know with presentations and new learning more about this, jeff commented terms of sustainability and lowering emissions that really got you interested, right? >> to a certain extent, i

matt, you don't have to look far amazon forrell on price gouging.t can be a little whack-a-mole. they say that have taken down tens of thousands of listings. i think part speaks to the difficulty of policing these .arge online environments it is hard to get a handle on. meanwhile, ebay has banned hansen at kaiser masks completely. why are they taking a different approach? not hard and fast for price gouging. i think it is leading to a split response between ebay and other companies. has an employee who tested positive for the and amazon has told his employees in the seattle area to work from home. how is amazon navigating as they are supposed to be helping get supplies out to everyone across it is unclear how their logistical operations are going to be. we have seen some folks going to work, some folks are physically around their seattle headquarters and a lot of ispanies, one thing going on roles can be remote anyway. outside, we've not had any real reason to question so far. >> microsoft has told employees work from home. give us the view from the

amazon fired him after he came in to work and helped organize a protest about how amazon is treatingorkers. amazon told us smalls was terminated because he violated some of the safety protocols. certainly some irony there. across the country, you have gig workers and other employees not happy with how they are being treated, how they are being paid. me right now, shopper of the gig workers collective, a group that represents the interests of gig workers nationwide. thank you for joining us. instacart workers have been staging protests across the country today. i wonder if you can paint the picture for us in terms of a day in the life for you and if you feel the conditions you work in our say for you as a worker in -- work in our safe for you as a worker and the customers? heidi: thank you for giving us a voice. our walk-off started yesterday. i felt like we got some really good support, feedback, and participation. we are out there buying groceries for everyone. andle are staying home staying safe. we want to do that. refusedt has repeatedly to meet any request for testing, for ppe,

>>susie not has been frustrated during this pandemic she frequently shops on amazon for groceries andtems. but recently she claims the prices haven't been the same kind mass for example she was shopping for cheerios to buy for her husband saw most of the boxes were sold out every day and i know they love and she's not alone. multiple people have been taking to social media claiming they've seen prices skyrocket that's why amazon spending nearly 4,000 accounts for allegedly price gouging customers and things like cereal and emergency powder to buying your regular. we reached out to amazon and no one got back to us but earlier this week they posted to their company block saying they are quote making clear to all of our sellers, our longstanding policies that ensure fair pricing monitoring our stores 24 7 through both automated and manual means and aggressively removing bad actors and offers. >>collaborating with federal state and local law enforcement agencies and policymakers to hold price gougers accountable. stay focused on our customers and protecting their interests. not hopes amaz

and we're working directly with our suppliers for amazon retail, amazon inventory to do the same.viously there is a great demand for these products and we want to make sure customers get them. >> there are some amazon warehouse workers around the world. the report has been in spain and italy that tested positive for the coronavirus. are you changing your work or protocols to protect workers more because you've seen, i know, this petition from some workers that want to see more protective measures in the warehouse. >> we have changed our procedures to enhance the amount of cleaning, to increase the amount of social distancing, to limit the amount of congregation that takes place in our fulfillment centers. i can't remember, poppy, if you visited one -- >> i did. >> -- our fulfillment centers are quite large, and while they employ many, many people, the sheer distance between employees is actually useful in this case to ensure social distancing. when we have had a handful of cases so far of employees testing positive, we're doing everything we can to make sure they're taken care of,

amazon delivers from whole foods as well.said, they did say today that they are running into some issues with inventory. emily: talk about the situation in the warehouse, because we have seen some workers complain, we have seen petitions being started, these workers are uncomfortable in the warehouses. at the same time that customers need this stuff. what is amazon doing to help with their fears about getting sick themselves, the workers? matt: they have stepped up sanitation protocols, they are asking people who pack and ship items to be more cautious of their own workstations and wipe down their equipment. it is a real pickle they are in. it is a necessary service for those people who do not want to go out, but these are buildings where thousands of people congregate every day to keep the inventory moving to customers. emily: let's talk about then you about- you broke a story how amazon is protecting its own drivers, that they get a single theiro wipe hands and a steering wheel. what are they telling you? matt: not many of

in new york i want you to take a listen to what a worker at amazon said earlier today we don't have to go by that dept verifies that it's a pistol. thank you people like you we started this and won't did it is still about we're told by c.d.c. standards but we call the c.d.c. and. also. they say you know the company says one thing and does another these delivery people specially with amazon they have never been as essential as they are right now certainly they must have tremendous leverage with management at the moment. that's the big brand most of us are at home and there are people placing orders for essential items and it is delivery people like those working at amazon who are bringing those items to us and unfortunately what they're saying is proper measures are not being put into place to take care of them to protect them this goes also for the people working in the amazon warehouses on monday in staten island where there is an amazon warehouse workers staged a walkout saying that the facility hadn't been properly cleaned and measures were being taken to protect them perhaps wit

now, amazon is not the first company to be hit with a strike. in fact, one of the companies that it used to have an investment in is called instacart also heard from their workers, called shoppers, this is more of a gig economy company, and they are self-employed workers who basically get the orders and fill these orders of customers desiring to have things dropped off at their front door. the strike they are looking at supposedly today as well is pretty much generated by a relatively new nonprofit called the gig workers collective, and the gig workers collective has put in a grocery list of demands, among them they want the workers to be provided with disinfectant and hand sanitizer and they also want an extra $5 every time they fill an order. once instacart got those demands they immediately said they would get hand sanitizer, they would get the proper equipment to keep the workers, the shoppers, safe, and they said they would provide that starting today. we are still working on getting confirmation that that is true but the company has now of

amazon has now run out of some popular items, including a lot of household staples. amazon was also working to fight price gouging and in fact has pulled roughly a million products from its site. >>fire time now to get a check on the 4 zone forecast as we look live above the golden gate bridge the marin headlands catherine you'd never know by looking at this that the world has kind of been turned upside weeks look how serene this is about town the weather change and again lawrence wright. >>yeah looks like we've got more showers on the way up there of course a nice right now you've got a partly cloudy skies around the bay area looking good toward the golden gate bridge. but how about this we've had that cold front bringing us that rain on and off throughout the weekend you see the storm clouds really moving up the sierra nevada they're seeing some heavy rainfall up there. >>and a lot of snow across the higher peaks so we've got some storms just off our coastline. in fact look at that couple lightning strikes showing up in the past few hours here off the coast, certai

we travel a bit further into the peruvian amazon. we come upon the end water of the 3rd aging cargo ship loaded with pegs. loading the ship is hard work but load wake is still glad to have a job as a porter. at least until he starts to work out how much he's been carrying. roses that it's not a sack of rice weighs 50 kilos so that's $100.00 kilos for 2 sacks. yeah there's every day we unload a truck full which adds up to several tons. ludwig and his colleagues spend about 3 hours loading and unloading the ship then they have to take a break. but their jobs may soon be obsolete anyway. the peruvian government is planning to build a modern and fully automated transshipment terminal in the port town of unity among us. there are a few roads in the peruvian amazon so nearly everything has to be transported along the river. boxes sacks parcels and livestock boats as small as the other water the 3rd are a logistical nightmare it takes hours before everything is stowed on board. the harbor master is already looking forward to a new container