TREATED LIKE SLAVES
Exhausted workers claim that gruelling targets leave them in a zombie state
WORKERS at Amazon’s biggest UK warehouse are accusing bosses at the £730billion giant of “modern slavery”.
They claim they are pressured to hit steep targets while managers clock every minute they are away from their work stations – even when pregnant or injured.
Some who are trying to form a union claim they have been penalised for it. One worker said: “It’s modern slavery in there.”
AMAZON warehouse staff are so exhausted by working flat out to hit strict targets that they fall asleep in the loos, a former worker claims.
Michael Gabay, 42, said he completed “100 days of hell” at the biggest UK depot of the world’s richest company, valued at £730billion.
It is not uncommon for staff there on £10.50 an hour to feel ill from exhaustion, current and former staff claim.
Workers “walk around like zombies” in 10-hour shifts with limited breaks under pressure to work faster, Mr Gabay claimed, with workers packing 250,000 items on the night shift he did at the 2million sq ft depot in Tilbury, Essex.
He claimed staff in other departments could not use the toilets because worn-out workers locked themselves in to sleep. He said staff have to join a “power hour” where managers shout the slogan before fast music is played on big speakers to speed up productivity. Some workers who fell ill were allegedly refused ambulances and sent to a first aid station instead. Mr Gabay claims he saw pregnant women being given no respite despite being in pain.
One woman claims that while six months pregnant she was told off for not hitting packing targets of 120 items an hour, and was reported by a manager for being away from her work station.
She said: “I couldn’t go any faster. They’re always putting pressure on. I’d sometimes get a 10-minute break because I was tired, but they have their eye on you. One of the managers reported me, when I was pregnant, for not being at my station. I was filling out my maternity form.”
She said another pregnant woman who fell ill was refused an ambulance. She said: “They called her a taxi after taking her to the first aider.”
Another woman, in her 50s, claims management would not call an ambulance when she was “screaming in pain” on the floor after a heavy package fell on her. Another former worker, named only as Josephine, 55, claims she was dismissed after sustaining a work injury following claims she was not at her work station for two hours one day. She claims bosses clocked every minute she was absent, including toilet breaks, adding: “It’s modern slavery in there.”
Mr Gabay said: “Why are people treated like this? [Amazon boss] Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world and this is how his company is run.”
Some workers tried to form a union, which they are seeking to officially register. Mr Gabay did not pass his probation period and claims this was a result of his union role. One worker given a warning about her “productivity” believes she was targeted because she joined the union.
Amazon said: “We do not recognise these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our building. Tilbury fulfilment centre is a safe and positive workplace. Safety is our No1 priority and we take the wellbeing of our associates extremely seriously. We will always call an ambulance if one is required. Our team of on-site first-aiders follow NHS guidance when an ambulance should be called.”
Why are people being treated like this? Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world
MICHAEL GABAY FORMER WORKER AT AMAZON’S TILBURY DEPOT
AMAZON warehouses are the 21st century’s dark satanic mills, staff in the giant “fulfilment centres” worked so hard they fall asleep, exhausted, in the toilet.
So many employees complain of slave-driver conditions and inhuman targets that the US international corporation’s slick PR excuses are no longer believed.
Complaints from pregnant women and injured workers add to a grim picture of toiling in close to unbearable conditions on low wages in a multi-billion-pound organisation.
If everything was as sweet as Amazon claims, it would not fear trade unions organising the workforce. So we challenge the company to invite union representatives on to their premises to ask staff if they want to join.
Amazon’s services are used by millions, yet the firm is accused of failing in its duty to treat workers responsibly, pay them decently and recognise something is still fundamentally wrong when growing numbers of employees complain their warehouses are sweat shops.
The firm sells an Amazon Prime service. It’s time Amazon became a prime employer.