Amazon warehouse workers have famously faced on-the-job hazards. One new one? COVID-19.
How to stay safe in close quarters, in warehouses and farm housing. A chat with the King County Executive. And a look behind the clippers as hairstylists prepare to reopen.
Individual segments are available in our podcast stream or at www.kuow.org/record.
Karen Weise, Amazon warehouses
Many workplaces are only as good as their managers. But the stakes skyrocket when your employer is Amazon, and the question is enforcement of social distancing rules in a crowded warehouse during a pandemic. The New York Times’ Karen Weise wrote a piece on an Amazon warehouse in the Poconos that became the largest cluster in the tech giant’s sprawling empire.
King County Executive Dow Constantine 5.19
King County is starting to reopen some public spaces and programs, including fare collection on public transit. County Executive Dow Constantine spoke with Bill Radke about changes in worker protections and what riders can expect as more start to return to buses and trains.
Richard Read, farmworkers
There are 30,000 workers harvesting the fruit of Washington state. Many of them are guest workers. Where are they supposed to stay? That’s been the topic of a struggle between farmers and worker advocates; Richard Read, Seattle Bureau Chief for the LA Times, has the story.
Carolyn Adolph, Phase 2 hairstylists
How’s your quarantine hair situation? Whether you’ve been trying to recreate your salon style, making ill-advised decisions about bangs, or expanding your hat collection: many of us are keenly interested in the reopening of barbershops and hair salons. KUOW’s Carolyn Adolph spoke to stylists and owners.
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Bill Radke
Host
Bill hosts Week In Review and Words in Review. After starting with KUOW as a University of Washington student in 1985, Bill was KUOW's morning host in the '90s and the creator of past show, Rewind, a news-satire show heard on KUOW and nationwide on NPR. Bill moved away to Southern California to host American Public Media's Weekend America and Marketplace Morning Report and returned to KUOW in 2012.
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