Bad for Workers? - Amazon Updates

Is Amazon Bad for Workers?

See what has been reported about Amazon in other communities, and judge for yourself.

Court filings show how Amazon Web Services is using Section 230 as a legal sword against Parler

The social media platform Parler marketed itself as a place where Americans could “speak freely” and avoid the fear of being “deplatformed.” Its investors included conservative donor Rebekah Mercer, who described Parler as “a beacon to all who value their liberty.” But Parler was never any sort of wholly independent island of absolutely free speech. Before Parler’s August 2018 launch, according to court documents, its leaders signed the nascent site up for Amazon’s cloud-based web hosting services.

It takes eight weeks for an Amazon warehouse worker to earn what Jeff Bezos makes in a second, says union

A union has claimed that it takes an Amazon warehouse worker over eight weeks, or 293 hours, to earn what Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos in a single second, a union has said. The Trades Union Congress (TUC) analysed the earnings of the world’s wealthiest man and found that the amount of time it takes for an Amazon warehouse worker to earn what Mr Bezos earns in a second increased from more than five weeks last year to eight weeks this year.

Amazon to face first U.S. unionization vote in seven years next month

Amazon will face its first union vote on U.S. soil in seven years on Feb. 8, when ballots will be mailed to warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, for an election that could emerge as a major labor battle at one of the country's largest employers. A National Labor Relations Board hearing officer ruled Friday that roughly 6,000 workers at the facility will have seven weeks to cast their ballots to be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The decision granted the union's request to hold the balloting entirely by mail, over the objections of Amazon, which wanted in-person voting.

6,000 Amazon warehouse workers will hold union vote in Alabama on Feb. 8

Amazon warehouse workers at an Alabama warehouse can begin voting by mail in early February on whether to form a union, a National Labor Relations Board hearing officer ruled Friday. The ruling kicks off what will be a closely watched union vote at one of the nation’s largest employers. Unions have a stronger foothold among some of Amazon’s European workforce, but the company has largely manage to thwart organizing efforts in the U.S.

It takes eight weeks for an Amazon warehouse worker to earn what Jeff Bezos makes in a second, says union

US investigation finds Amazon illegally fired warehouse worker

A National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) investigation has found merit to a complaint that said Amazon illegally discharged a protesting warehouse worker in New York City, according to an NLRB spokesperson. Gerald Bryson, an Amazon associate, was helping to lead a protest outside a company warehouse in Staten Island, New York on 6 April while off the job, when he got into a dispute with another worker, according to Bryson’s attorney Frank Kearl.

Amazon robots speed customer orders but may lead to fewer workers

TRACY, Calif. — This holiday season, Amazon’s little helper is an orange, 320-pound robot called Kiva. The robots — more than 15,000 of them companywide — are part of Amazon’s high-tech strategy to get orders to customers faster. By lifting shelves of Amazon products off the ground and automatically delivering them to employee stations, the robots cut the time it takes for warehouse workers to walk around looking for items.

How Amazon Became Santa’s Sweatshop

The Supreme Court just handed a big holiday present to low-wage workers across America in the form of a giant f*ck you. It’s a reminder that while on some cases the court—like politics in general—may seem divided by red and blue, when it comes to decisions that affect big business in America, it’s all about the green. Forget the bullpucky about the “War on Christmas.” There’s a real “War on the Working Class” under way, and the Supreme Court just made it worse. So much for happy holidays.

Inside Amazon: Wrestling Big Ideas in a Bruising Workplace

SEATTLE — On Monday mornings, fresh recruits line up for an orientation intended to catapult them into Amazon’s singular way of working. They are told to forget the “poor habits” they learned at previous jobs, one employee recalled. When they “hit the wall” from the unrelenting pace, there is only one solution: “Climb the wall,” others reported. To be the best Amazonians they can be, they should be guided by the leadership principles, 14 rules inscribed on handy laminated cards. When quizzed days later, those with perfect scores earn a virtual award proclaiming, “I’m Peculiar” — the company’s proud phrase for overturning workplace conventions.

Timed toilet breaks, impossible targets and workers falling asleep on feet: Brutal life working in Amazon warehouse

Alone in a locked metal cage, 10 feet from my nearest colleague, a robot approaches from the shadows and thrusts a tower of shelves towards me. I have nine seconds to grab and process an item to be sent for packing – a target of 300 items an hour, for hour after relentless hour. As I bend to the floor then reach high above my head to fulfil a never-ending stream of orders, my body screams at me.

Examining Amazon's treatment of its workers

Amazon is the second largest private employer in the country, headed by the richest man on Earth. As the coronavirus pandemic has upended American life as we know it, many of us at home have relied on Amazon as a lifeline. Its workers have been called heroes. Amazon worker: At least 600 Amazon employees stricken by coronavirus. More 60 Minutes coronavirus coverage. But the company has come under fire for the way it treats those workers on the frontlines of delivery.

I Worked at an Amazon Fulfillment Center; They Treat Workers Like Robots

A group of workers with their fists raised in solidarity hold a scrawled sign: “We are humans not robots!” They and others at an Amazon warehouse in Minnesota protested in March and on July’s Amazon Prime Days. They were speaking against the day-to-day dehumanizing reality of their workplace. If your only interaction with Amazon is packages arriving on your doorstep, it can be hard to understand what workers are unhappy about, or why one described his fulfillment center as an “existential sh-thole,” or why so many others shared stories about crying at work.

‘I'm not a robot’: Amazon workers condemn unsafe, grueling conditions at warehouse

Rina Cummings has worked three 12-hour shifts every week at Amazon’s gargantuan New York City warehouse, called JFK8, on Staten Island since it first began operations in late 2018. As a sorter on the outbound ship dock, her job is to inspect and scan a mandated rate of 1,800 Amazon packages an hour – 30 per minute – that are sent through a chute and transported on a conveyor belt before leaving the facility for delivery. If your only interaction with Amazon is packages arriving on your doorstep, it can be hard to understand what workers are unhappy about, or why one described his fulfillment center as an “existential sh-thole,” or why so many others shared stories about crying at work.

Inside the hellish workday of an Amazon warehouse employee

It took just three days of working full time at an Amazon “fulfillment center” outside of Louisville, Kentucky, for Emily Guendelsberger’s body to break down. She’d been warned by her supervisors that it would be physically demanding. She’d be on her feet for 12-hour shifts, walking a total of 15 to 20 miles through a 25-acre warehouse — as long as seven New York blocks — looking for merchandise to fulfill online orders. One Amazon training video included a testimonial from an employee who claimed she’d lost 20 pounds from all the walking, “posing it as a benefit,” says Guendelsberger.

How Amazon is fighting back against workers’ increasing efforts to unionize

Throughout Amazon’s 25-year history, there have been multiple rumblings of workers trying to unionize, but to no success. With record-breaking sales numbers and newly doubled shipping speeds, however, momentum to organize has picked up among some of Amazon’s more than 650,000 worldwide employees. Three big unions are among those talking to Amazon workers — the Teamsters, the United Food & Commercial Workers Union and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Recent worker protests point to organizing efforts.

Amazon is cracking down on protesters and organizing, workers say

Amazon’s revenues topped $33m an hour in the first three months of the year as the coronavirus pandemic locked down large parts of the world. The sales boost has handed Amazon the biggest dilemma of its 25-year life: how to deal with a growing chorus of critics within the company. So far its reaction has only made matters worse. Last week an Amazon vice-president, Tim Bray, resigned in protest at what he called the company’s “chickenshit” decision to fire colleagues in the company’s warehouse division who had highlighted safety issues. “Remaining an Amazon VP would have meant, in effect, signing off on actions I despised,” wrote Bray.

Amazon Warehouse Worker Alleges Retaliation for Safety Activism

An Amazon.com Inc. warehouse worker in Shakopee, Minnesota, has accused the company of retaliating against her for protesting what she says are unsafe working conditions during the pandemic. In a letter to Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison, Hibaq Mohamed said managers were demanding that she account for time away from her workstation -- including increments of less than three minutes. Mohamed said she is being singled out for her activism and that she is now one warning away from termination.

‘This is crazy:’ Rage boils over at Amazon sites over coronavirus risks

Amazon faces a rash of strikes and protests at sites across Europe as warehouse workers lash out over what they say are gruelling labor conditions, minimal protection and the risk of infection after several employees tested positive for coronavirus. The outrage in Italy, Spain and France — among the countries worst-hit by the virus — is testing the e-commerce giant's ability to keep operating its labor-intensive warehouses amid surging demand and radical containment measures.

Amazon VP Resigns, Calls Company ‘Chickenshit’ for Firing Protesting Workers

Tim Bray, a well known senior engineer and Vice President at Amazon has “quit in dismay” because Amazon has been “firing whistleblowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of Covid-19.” In an open letter on his website, Bray, who has worked at the company for nearly six years, called the company “chickenshit” for firing and disparaging employees who have organized protests. He also said the firings are "designed to create a climate of fear."

Amazon Workers Are Organizing a Global Struggle

IN RECENT WEEKS, dizzying statistics have circulated on social media about Amazon’s pandemic-era boom and the obscene wealth accrued by its CEO, and Earth’s richest man, Jeff Bezos. The company reported revenue of $96.1 billion just last quarter, which, according to the Institute for Policy Studies, means Bezos could personally pay Amazon’s 876,000 workers a bonus of $105,000 each — and would still be as filthy rich as he was prior to the pandemic.