Earlier this year, the company apologized for falsely
denying that its drivers are forced to urinate in plastic bottles. Yes, you
heard that right, drivers were forced to urinate in plastic bottles because their
hectic schedules don’t allow them to use the restroom without interrupting
their deliveries. In addition, not only drivers but warehouse workers are under
too much time pressure to use bathrooms.
During the first wave of the pandemic, the company was
accused of “cutting corners” on Covid safety, which it also denies. Obviously, all
these accusations are probably true because multiple workers are claiming this,
Amazon is just denying them to save face and status.
Furthermore, a new study from the Strategic Organizing
Center (SOC), a coalition of labor unions. It analyzed workplace safety data
reported to OSHA from 2017 to 2020. It found that “workers at Amazon warehouses
are not only injured more frequently than in non-Amazon warehouses, they are
also injured more severely”. Compared to its largest retail competitor Walmart,
Amazon’s injury rate was more than double at 6.5 per 100 employees.
Amazon said in a statement that it had invested more than $1
billion in workplace safety last year growing its safety team to more than 6200
people. “While any incident is one too many, we are continuously learning and
seeing improvements through ergonomics programs, guided exercises at employee’s
workstations, mechanical assistance equipment, workstation setup, and design,
and forklift telematics and guardrails – to name a few”, a spokesman said.
Additionally, the spokesman also talked about Jeff Bezos’s “WorkingWell”
wellbeing program, that he mentioned at a recent shareholder meeting that is
committed to reducing workplace injuries.
I do not like Amazon’s approach to solving this problem for
many reasons. First and foremost, all their solutions are focused solely on
optimizing work efficiency while having optional exercises to keep workers in
shape. I’m not saying that’s a bad idea, but it shouldn’t be their main focus.
Their focus should be giving them longer breaks and move workers around to different
machines so they’re not stressing the same muscles day in and day out. Additionally,
they should provide lifting equipment such as wrist wraps, lifting belts, etc.
to workers to limit injury in the warehouse, if they are not doing that already.
https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-57332390
It just amazes me that there are countless of claims from people who have worked at those warehouses about the terrible conditions and being pushed to their limit, and yet Amazon still denies these claims. I agree with your point that Amazon should treat their workers better and with better equipment.
ReplyDeleteYes Amazon needs to provide actual equipment and not just video exercises haha. Those only help to a certain extent.
DeleteI agree with you about how Amazon is not providing their workers with the essential to equipment to stay safe. If these workers are not able to go to the bathroom during work hours, what else are they not allowed to do? Does that mean they don't get breaks and can't refuel their bodies? Breaks are important in work because not only do they not only do they give people a physical break, but a mental and emotional break too. Since Amazon workers are constantly doing something, it is important that they get time to themselves throughout the day. If Amazon is so worried about falling behind and not getting enough profit, then they need to hire more people.
ReplyDeleteYes that's what Amazon needs to do is hire more people. However, in order to have more people interested in working at an Amazon warehouse, they need to improve the conditions, give longer breaks, and more incentives to make that happen.
DeleteNo company should cut corners in regards to employee safety after all, these people are the backbone of the company and are a large part of what makes companies like these successful. The graph showing the injuries per 100 equivalent employees just shows how dangerous the operations of amazon actually are
ReplyDelete