£20bn for Amazon .. & peanuts for us
How agencies used by online giant are breaking its own rules
nightmare, but I needed a job.” Andras worked the 2.30am to 10am shift, but would often get a text between 6pm and 10pm, cancelling his shift.
He said: “The first week I did overtime so got £560. The second week it was £380 or £400. In the third week, I did three days. After tax, I had £250.
“Another time it was just one shift. I didn’t have enough money, family members had to help me.
“I don’t support anyone, but two of my friends there are mothers. They must feed their kids, they can’t live on money that is always changing.”
He was doing up to 25,000 steps in eight hours, but said: “Some people do 35,000 – I must run to do this. The system is like everybody must be a robot. They want slaves, not workers.”
Amazon used a third of all the warehouse space in the UK last summer. In the lead up to Christmas, the Bureau recorded the details of 8,742 ads for
Amazon warehouse jobs. In some areas, those jobs made up over a third of all vacancies, 92% in Scotland.
Chancellor Rishi Sunak is considering an “Amazon Tax” on online retailers who made billions in lockdown. Amazon had a tax turnover ratio of just 0.37% in 2020.
Angela Rayner, Labour’s deputy leader, said: “A job should provide security for workers and their families, not insecurity, anxiety and Dickensian conditions. The Government must not allow companies to outsource their moral responsibility to treat their staff with decency and respect.
“Zero-hour contracts have no place in our society. The rise of zero-hours and over-reliance on agency work are symptoms of a broken system that means the majority of children living in poverty are in working families.”
Amazon said: “Our agency terms are explicit that Amazon does not engage individuals on zero-hour contracts.” PMP said: “In this specific case, our colleagues are not employed under zero-hour contracts and are provided with a guaranteed minimum number of shifts per week.”
Adecco said: “Adecco offers its employees a range of work opportunities from up to 40 hours per week, part time or flexible shifts.”
TUC General Secretary Frances O’Grady said: “Amazon workers have played a key role during this pandemic. But many are treated like disposable labour while the company registers enormous profits off the back of their hard work. That’s not right.”