Poor working conditions in Amazon: Isolated incident or a pattern?
A report by New York-based labor watchdog, China Labor Watch (CLW), revealed terrible working conditions at a Foxconn-owned Amazon facility in Hengyang, China, and understandably the e-commerce giant has come under fire. While Amazon is trying to do damage control, we'd like to remind everyone that Amazon has been implicated in similar incidents multiple times earlier. Here are some of them.
US Amazon warehouse workers work gruelling hours for low pay
In November 2016, the Washington-based advocacy group Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR) reported that Amazon's advent in US, ironically, had led to a net loss of almost 150,000 jobs as of end-2015. Additionally, ILSR found that US Amazon warehouse workers, who comprise 80% of Amazon's US workforce, had to work gruelling hours for 15% lesser pay than average warehouse wages across 10 metropolitan areas.
Famed British journalist revealed harrowing working conditions in the UK
In March this year, famed British journalist James Bloodworth, who worked undercover at an Amazon fulfillment centre in the UK for six months, revealed disturbing details. In his book titled "Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain", Bloodworth said that Amazon workers at his warehouse were forced to urinate in bottles, and had to often forego toilet breaks to meet Amazon's rising fulfillment demands.
Survey: 55% of Amazon's UK warehouse workers suffer from depression
Interestingly, Bloodworth's findings were in line with recent first-hand records collected in a survey by workers' rights platform, Organize. The survey by Organize, which covered over 240 Amazon warehouse workers in the UK, revealed that 74% of workers avoided toilet breaks for fear of missing targets and getting fired. Even more disturbingly, 55% reported suffering from depression after starting to work for Amazon.
Workers report unfair practices and adverse mental health impacts
Organize's survey also found that 57% of the employees surveyed reported rising anxiety levels. 55% of the workers reported unfair warnings over illness - "from their [Amazon's] point of view, we don't have the right to be ill", said one employee. Additionally, 81% of the employees said they'd not apply for an Amazon job again, and a handful reported having suicidal thoughts.
40% workers in Chinese Amazon facility are temporary
The latest report, by CLW, the investigations for which spanned nine months, revealed even worse conditions at the Hengyang Amazon facility. CLW found that 40% of the workers at the facility were temporary workers (far exceeding China's 10% limit) who received no compensation for sick leaves, weren't paid extra for overtime, and received inadequate pre-job safety training. Peak season work hours were reportedly inhuman.
Workers put in inhuman overtime hours during peak season
CLW found that during peak season, workers at the Foxconn-owned Amazon facility had to put in 100 hours of overtime work monthly, against China's legal limit of 36 hours of monthly overtime. In one instance, workers reported working for 14 consecutive days during peak season. CLW also found that Amazon laid off its temporary workers in the off-season, thus leaving them with no income.
Amazon workers earn lower wages than the regional average
In terms of wages too, CLW found glaring issues at the Chinese facility in Hengyang. As opposed to average monthly wages of $725.22 in Hengyang, regular workers at the factory earned between $312.12-$468.19 during off-season. Additionally, they aren't allowed to work overtime during off-season, which takes away their opportunities to supplement their already low incomes.
Amazon has refuted all allegations pertaining to work conditions
Amazon, of course, has refuted these reports. The e-commerce giant, commenting on the UK reports, said it didn't "recognize these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities" in Amazon fulfillment centres. Commenting on the situation in China, Amazon said that it had asked for reforms in Foxconn facility before the CLW report was published. Who to believe? I leave it to your discretion.
Where do Amazon's priorities lie?
It's said that once is chance, twice is coincidence, but thrice is a pattern. Thus, with more than three separate reports in different geographies revealing terrible working conditions in Amazon's warehouses, I'm of the opinion that Amazon, with its tall claims of being the "Earth's most customer-centric company", should prioritize to improve working conditions for its "award-winning Customer Service teams" which drive its growth.
