Amazon's Value Hits $1 Trillion; Worker Reports

[appalachiablue]

Sept. 5. Experiences and conditions of workers in Amazon warehouses.

[appalachiablue]

1. Undercover reporter at warehouse in Britain.

[Honeycombe8]

2. Sheesh. I couldn't do all that.

But customers want their stuff fast fast fast. Me, not so much. I'm patient with deliveries.

Hopefully they'll get the safety improved. I feel for these people.

[comradebillyboy]

3. I remember when Jeff Bezos was selling books out of

his garage. People used to make fun of him because, for the longest time Amazon wasn't profitable. Then one day Bezos became the richest man on earth and his company is worth a trillion dollars.

I'm pretty impressed. Attacking 'The Great American Success Story' isn't a political winner. Maybe focus on broad social welfare legislation instead of ostentatiously punishing success would be a more appealing political strategy.

[appalachiablue]

4. Wealth and success per se are not the issue, it's the treatment of workers,

the ones who produce, and the stress and exploitative conditions for low pay they undergo, also the monopolistic-like behavior Amazon engages in that have been viewed harshly for years. The corporation doesn't have be run like this in order for Bezos and others to gain very high levels of profit. And unless things change for the better, exposes of what employees endure will continue to be reported and criticized for good reason.

The Guardian, 'Exploited Amazon workers need a union. When will they get one?' July 18, 2018.

..While Amazon has been diligently working to shut down any prospect of its workers unionizing, investigative journalists and activists have uncovered widespread abuses of workers. Ambulances were called to British Amazon warehouses 600 times in three years. James Bloodworth, a writer who went undercover at an Amazon warehouse in Staffordshire, England, discovered that workers there routinely urinated in water bottles to avoid being punished for taking breaks from work. Similar conditions have been reported in the United States. In a 2011 essay for the Atlantic, writer Vanessa Veselka shared her experiences working at an Amazon warehouse outside Seattle. She described how employees were forced to work in robotic, fast-paced conditions. Veselka was eventually fired from her temp position at the warehouse after she attempted to organize a union.

More recently, warehouse workers told Business Insider about time-crunched employees using trash bins to go to the bathroom. Employees also described a work atmosphere predicated on fear of missing productivity targets, and said that employees spent most of their lunch breaks waiting in line for onerous security screenings. Former Amazon workers have also said they are pressured to under-report warehouse injuries. Amazon workers are not paid wages that reflect these strenuous working conditions. In at least four states, the company is one of the top 20 employers of people dependent on food stamps. In a 2017 corporate filing, Amazon reported that the median salary of its employees is $28,446, or roughly $13.68 an hour for full-time employees. Jeff Bezos makes more than that every nine seconds.
More, https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2018/jul/08/amazon-jeff-bezos-unionize-working-conditions

https://www.cbsnews.com/news/inside-an-amazon-warehouse-treating-human-beings-as-robots/

https://thinkprogress.org/amazon-doesnt-want-to-pay-tax-that-would-create-low-income-housing-in-seattle-80f7177dfab4/