Thousands of Amazon warehouse staff across the US stage a strike over coronavirus conditions - while tech giant tells its office staff they can keep working from home until at least OCTOBER

As thousands of Aamzon warehouse staff went on strike today, the conglomerate told its office staff that they don't have to come back to work until October 2.

'Employees who work in a role that can effectively be done from home are welcome to do so until at least October 2,' an Amazon spokesman said in an emailed statement on Friday, adding it was applicable to such roles globally.

The statement did not specify how much of the company's overall workforce that covered and which roles.

It said the company is investing funds in safety measures for employees who wish to come to the office 'through physical distancing, deep cleaning, temperature checks, and the availability of face coverings and hand sanitizer.'

Essential workers will strike nationwide on May Day, which falls on Friday, to demand safer conditions during the coronavirus outbreak, while other groups plan rallies against tight stay-at-home orders they say are crippling the US economy.

Amazon employees at a fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York, are seen above during a protest on March 30. Thousands of warehouse staff are expected to take part in a work stoppage on Friday to protest conditions that they say put them in danger of getting sick

Organizers say employees of Amazon, Whole Foods, Target, Fedex and other companies have become the unexpected frontline workers of the pandemic.

At least two Whole Foods employees have died of COVID-19 and some 263 workers have tested positive for coronavirus. 

Whole Foods is owned by Amazon. 

A social media page posted by workers at Target claims that employees from 100 of the company's locations nationwide will participate in Friday's work stoppage.

Employees will walk off the job or call out sick Friday on International Workers' Day in cities across the United States to demand unpaid time off work, hazard pay, sick leave, protective gear and cleaning supplies.

They say flawed policies by employers caused some of their co-workers to contract COVID-19.

'This is a matter of life or death,' Christian Smalls, a former Amazon employee who was fired from his job at a Staten Island warehouse in March after he helped organize a demonstration, told The Washington Post.

'The virus is killing some of our employees.'

Smalls, who is now helping to organize Friday's walk-out, told the Post that he expects the work stoppage to spread to about 25 warehouses.

He told the Post he thinks thousands will participate. 

Amazon employees will be joined by workers from other companies, including Instacart. 

'For these reasons, we are engaging in a mass sickout and exercising our right to refuse unsafe work conditions,' according to a statement by Whole Foods workers.

Demonstrations are planned in New York, Washington, Los Angeles and other cities.

Protesters are asking consumers not to cross picket lines or use those companies´ services for the day in solidarity.

A message painted by activists on the street outside of one of the personal residences of Amazon founder Jeff Bezos in Washington, DC, on Wednesday

In response to planned protests by its workers, Amazon said in a statement: 'While we respect people's right to express themselves, we object to the irresponsible actions of labor groups in spreading misinformation and making false claims about Amazon during this unprecedented health and economic crisis. 

'We have gone to extreme measures to understand and address this pandemic.'

At least 48 employees at the Amazon fulfillment center in Edison, New Jersey, have contracted the coronavirus, according to NJ Advance Media for NJ.com.

The outbreak at the Edison facility is said to be the largest out of all of the company’s warehouses in the Garden State.

Last week, it was reported that 30 employees at an Amazon facility in nearby Carteret, New Jersey, contracted the coronavirus.

More than half of Amazon's 110 warehouses across the country have reported instances in which at least one employee has tested positive for COVID-19.

Grassroots workers' rights organizations said they expect the number of outbreaks to increase in the coming weeks. Nonetheless, the company has defied calls to shut down the facilities. 

Amazon said it has spent more than $800million on COVID-19 safety measures including masks, hand sanitizer, gloves and installing hand-washing stations at warehouses.

Heather MacDougall, Amazon's vice president of worldwide workplace health and safety, told Business Insider that the company is going to be alerting employees of COVID-19 cases in their facilities so that they can socially distance themselves.

'[W]e're continuing to innovate, exploring technology, such as through an app, to assist in reminding our people of the importance of social distancing — and providing reminders when they get too close,' she said. 

Shares of Amazon have been on the rise during the pandemic as the public has come to rely on the retailer for shopping while in quarantine

'We look to also leverage this technology for alerting associates when we do have a confirmed case.'

MacDougall added: 'We are focused on putting measures in place to ensure the spread of the virus is not occurring in our sites as these protective measures work to keep our employees' rate of infection less than that of the communities where they live.' 

Walmart is conducting daily temperature checks and is providing masks and gloves to store and warehouse workers, the company said.

Pro-labor protesters who typically take to the streets on May 1 hope to get some of the attention back from recent headline-grabbing demonstrations demanding states loosen shelter-in-place orders and 'reopen.'

Protesters on Wednesday demonstrated outside the Washington, DC, home of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the world's richest man.

A group of activists vandalized the road outside the company founder's $23million mansion in the upscale Kalorama section of the capital on Wednesday, demanding better coronavirus protections for Amazon workers.

Protesters scrawled 'Protect Amazon Workers' in giant red, yellow and white paint in the middle of a street, with the hashtag '#ForUsNotAmazon' alongside.

Bezos has seen his fortune grow by $24billion this year amid surging online orders during the coronavirus lockdown.

But worker dissatisfaction over conditions at warehouses have continued to generate headlines in recent weeks. 

New York Attorney General Letitia James told Amazon last week it may have violated safety measures and labor practices amid the virus outbreak as the company fired a warehouse protest leader in March.

In a letter to the retail giant last week Letitia James' office slammed the health and safety measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic as 'inadequate'.

Amazon terminated Smalls on grounds that he put others at risk by violating his paid quarantine when he joined a demonstration at Amazon's Staten Island fulfillment center.

But the letter, sent to the company on April 22, adds that preliminary findings 'raise serious concern that Amazon may have discharged (Smalls) in order to silence his complaints and send a threatening message to other employees that they should also keep quiet about any health and safety concerns'.

'Amazon's health and safety measures taken in response to the COVID-19 pandemic are so inadequate that they may violate several provisions of the Occupational Safety and Health Act,' James's office wrote in the letter.

Amazon said it has taken 'extreme measures' to keep its employees safe, according here to a company statement cited by NPR, which first reported on the letter.

A spokesman said: 'We encourage anyone to compare the health and safety measures Amazon has taken, and the speed of their implementation, during this crisis with other retailers.' 

Workers at warehouses and other facilities have stayed operational to keep deliveries flowing to customers stuck at home in government-mandated lockdowns.

The company has raised overtime pay for warehouse workers and hired 175,000 people last month while rival brick-and-mortar retailers had to shut stores. 

It had 798,000 full and part-time workers globally as of December 31.