Amazon's Jay Carney dismisses safety record reports in combative Twitter session
PR chief says 'other companies woefully underreport injuries'
FOX Business Briefs: Amazon dismissing a new report claiming the company sacrifices safety for speed.
Amazon Senior Vice President Jay Carney dismissed stories about the tech giant's safety record in a series of Monday tweets.
Carney was replying to BuzzFeed reporter Ken Bensinger, who shared a link on Twitter to a report with ProPublica highlighting Amazon's response to its questionable safety record after the e-commerce giant initially refused requests from three U.S. senators asking it to disclose the names of three of its delivery partner companies.
Bensinger also tweeted examples of Carney making disputable claims about the company and promoting its $15 per hour minimum wage policy for all U.S. workers even though Bensinger took screenshots of Amazon delivery driver listings that offer $14 per hour.
(Thomas Trutschel/Photothek via Getty Images)
"That's your reporting? How about starting with fact that other companies woefully underreport injuries," Carney tweeted. "Get out your notebook and [shoe] leather!"
When other reporters joined Bensinger to share their similar reporting on Amazon's treatment of its delivery drivers, Carney defended the company's pay and benefits.
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"Compare our jobs to the alternatives. Find an alternative --- not imaginary --- that provides the pay and benefits we provide," the Amazon exec tweeted. "And, if you want to be a political advocate and not a reporter, I applaud that. I did both. But don’t pretend you're one when you're really the other."
Amazon did not immediately respond to FOX Business' request for comment.
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Democratic Sens. Richard Blumenthal of Connecticut, Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts and Sherrod Brown of Ohio called Amazon's responses to their inquiries to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos regarding the tech giant's massive delivery driver network "evasive."
Amazon disputed the BuzzFeed-ProPublica report and responded to the senators' concerns in a Feb. 7 letter saying employee safety is a "top priority" at the company, which aims to set "standards that meet and often exceed legal requirements."
Former Toys "R" Us CEO Jerry Storch told FOX Business' Maria Bartiromo on Dec. 24 he was skeptical of the BuzzFeed-ProPublica report.
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"On the one hand, these new revolutionary business models are being held to high standards," Storch said. "And that's totally appropriate. There is no excuse for a lack of safety."
Former Toys ‘R’ Us CEO, former HBC CEO, former Target vice chairman and Storch Advisors CEO Jerry Storch discusses a new report calling out Amazon for over 60 crashes involving Amazon drivers.
Storch said, on the other hand, he’s "suspicious" of the news, asking who else in the industry could benefit from a story like this, which accuses Amazon of putting profits above safety.
"I think we all should be [suspicious] about a story that breaks on Christmas Eve against a retailer," he said, adding, "The core issue is: Are they more or less dangerous than other [companies]? And there are no statistics on that. We really don't know. And these kind of anecdotes aren’t really answering the question."
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FOX Business' Catie Perry contributed to this report.