Stressed Amazon workers ‘driven to brink of suicide’
Half of staff ‘suffering depression’
SOME Amazon warehouse staff have considered suicide over poor conditions, according to a survey.
In the poll of 100 workers, more than half said they had suffered depression.
Eight of those surveyed said they had thought about killing themselves.
The findings have been revealed by Organise, which pushes for union representation for employees.
Lead campaigner Usman Mohammed said: “Every week we see dozens of horrific stories from inside Amazon’s UK warehouses.
“The sheer volume of Amazon workers suffering from depression and anxiety since starting a job at one of their five main warehouses is frightening.”
The staff surveyed anonymously also complained of being penalised for illness. One said: “From their point of view we don’t have the right to be ill.”
Another said: “I had an epilepsy episode at work and was taken to hospital. The next day someone rang me and asked why I was not in work.”
Nearly three quarters also claimed they were so scared of missing productivity targets they did not drink water so they would not need the toilet.
Organise’s findings follow a Sunday Mirror probe into working practices at the US firm’s UK warehouses, where staff are paid £8.20 an hour to pack and despatch orders. Pickers at its site in Tilbury, Essex, were given targets of processing at least 300 items per hour.
Amazon said it provided a safe, positive workplace. It said: “We haven’t been provided with confirmation the people who completed the survey worked at Amazon. We don’t recognize these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings.”
Amazon was named by LinkedIn as the seventh most sought-after UK workplace, and lets customers tour sites to see what happens after they click “buy”.