Two of Our Co-Workers at RDU1 Have Died

We at RDU1 are grieving the recent loss of two of our co-workers. One collapsed on the 4th floor on March 1, 2026. The managers on duty did not call 911 and it took the Wellness staff more than thirty minutes to arrive. Managers told workers who were trying to help to go back to work. Our co-worker was sent home and died the next day. Warehouse leadership never communicated anything about the death to the rest of the almost 5,000 of us who work at RDU1.

Another of our co-workers died on July 22, 2025. He passed away in the warehouse. Nothing was communicated to us about this death either. Both men were well-liked and long-time employees with friends among us. We were not even notified by Amazon about how to attend their memorial services. Another of our fellow Amazon workers died this year in a Portland warehouse. Workers were told "not to look" and to "get back to work," just as we were at RDU1.

RDU1 leadership: Kristen Tettmer (Site Lead), Deborah (Ops Manager), Mike, (Area Manager), Amber Daniels (HR Lead), and Delmar (Ops Manager). We have information that each of you knew the circumstances of these deaths, either present at the March 1 collapse of our co-worker or involvement in managing the aftermath of his death and failing to provide an account of what happened.

We respect the sensitivity of these tragedies and the pain of the families who have lost loved ones. That's why we are not publishing the names or identifying details of our fallen co-workers. But the issue of emergency response affects all co-workers. We deserve to know what happened (without the names being published); how Amazon responded; and what you plan to do to protect worker safety in the future.

We need answers. Now. Why did it take Wellness more than half an hour to help our co-worker when he collapsed on the 4th floor on March 1, 2026? Why didn't managers call 911? Why was our co-worker sent home from Wellness to die the next day? How long did it take Wellness to arrive when another co-worker collapsed and died on the floor on July 22, 2025?

This article was first published by CAUSE.