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The World Socialist Web Site reports
Injured Amazon worker Shannon Allen spoke to the International Amazon Workers Voice about the conditions at the DFW-7 fulfillment center in Haslet, Texas. Shannon described brutal working conditions, authoritarian-style surveillance of workers, and management demands to maintain frenetic rates of speed.
Shannon, 49, lives in Azle, Texas, a small town on the western outskirts of Fort Worth. She was injured while working at Amazon, returned to the job, and was injured again at the same workstation. Physically unable to continue work, Shannon now faces homelessness on top of her injuries, but she is determined to "fight or die".
[...] To maximize her income, Shannon volunteered for the overnight shift on Saturday through Thursday. The shift begins at 6:30 at night and ends at 5:00 in the morning. However, once Shannon received her first paycheck, she realized that her pay was $13 per hour for the weekend shifts, not the $13.50 that had been promised.
[...] Shannon worked as a "counter", whose job was to check the work of the pickers and stowers. Fail to catch a mistake, and become a target of a punitive system of "quality errors" and "write-ups".
Not long after starting to work at Amazon, Shannon began to recognize what she called the "dirty secrets". "These are the things they don't tell you about when you're hired."
Every time workers leave the facility, they are subjected to an invasive search. "You wait in line with a bucket like at the airport", she said. A worker is required to take off belt, shoes, and hat. Bags are sent through a conveyor belt and the worker goes through a full body scan. "If you set it off, you have to go through a second search, and they wand you front to back."
In a 10-hour shift, workers are permitted two 15-minute breaks and one 30-minute break for lunch. To go outside on a break, workers must submit to the search and go through the security line. "The lines to get outside on your 15-minute break are 20 to 30 deep on each line, and there are only two lines." Meanwhile, the breaks are timed from "scan to scan" at a worker's station, and workers are admonished, "Not one second more."
[...] "The heat is sweltering." Shannon described fans here and there, pointing down the aisles where workers walk to get to their stations, but not toward the workers to help them cool off. "Whoever thought of that design was a complete idiot", Shannon said. "Because we get no relief from the heat with them pointed down the aisle."
Temperatures reached 80, 85, and 90 degrees Fahrenheit. "In the summertime, it gets over 100 degrees in there", Shannon said. "Here is another genius idea. They have these signs hanging down that have our station numbers on them. These signs are probably as big as a 19-inch TV. They are in front of the fans and it blows the sign constantly. And we get no relief from the heat."
"July and August are the absolute worst", Shannon continued. "It was nothing to see an ambulance up at Amazon four to five times a night." Workers dropped at their stations, physically unable to continue working. "On my shift", Shannon said, "we were picking people up from heat exhaustion."
[...] In addition to having "expectations of the human body that are unrealistic", Shannon said the company expected workers to manage with faulty equipment and constant demands to meet strict time limits. Attempting to work at high speeds around faulty equipment was a common cause of injury.
(Score: 2, Insightful) by realDonaldTrump on Thursday May 10 2018, @11:39AM (17 children)
If @amazon [twitter.com] ever had to pay fair wages, its stock would crash and it would CRUMBLE like a paper bag. The Fake News #AmazonWashingtonPost [twitter.com] scam is saving it!
(Score: 5, Informative) by ledow on Thursday May 10 2018, @11:50AM (15 children)
Strange that the other markets (e.g. Europe) don't see their Amazon crash and crumble, isn't it?
P.S. In Europe, you need to abide by working-hours laws:
http://ec.europa.eu/social/main.jsp?catId=706&langId=en&intPageId=205 [europa.eu]
which would make the working HOURS described illegal for night-work, let alone the workload, rest period, etc.
And, yes, there's been a case over exactly the security-procedure thing. The employer pays for it and it comes out of their paid time, not the employees free time.
Seriously, America really screw the working person and don't care. Other continents don't have that problem and account for just as much of the market.
The fan stuff? Really, that's just petty ex-employee whining.
But the ambulances? Why did nobody report that? That would be noted and the HSE (Health and Safety Executive) would be notified in the UK if ambulances were made to attend disproportionately and in direct relation to working conditions.
Maybe because the workers / company have to pay the insurance to cover the ambulances too?
(Score: 2) by ledow on Thursday May 10 2018, @11:58AM (6 children)
Oh, and "minimum working wage" guaranteed by law to be greater than $13.
(Score: 1, Touché) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10 2018, @12:21PM (5 children)
That's why amazon is an American company and not German.
(Score: 4, Funny) by PiMuNu on Thursday May 10 2018, @01:10PM (2 children)
I thought Amazon was an Irish company.
(Score: 4, Funny) by DannyB on Thursday May 10 2018, @01:22PM (1 child)
I thought Amazon was a company in South America.
The lower I set my standards the more accomplishments I have.
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10 2018, @02:31PM
You're thinking of Brazil. [imdb.com]
(Score: 3, Informative) by ledow on Thursday May 10 2018, @04:13PM
Strangely, they are German:
https://www.bloomberg.com/research/stocks/private/snapshot.asp?privcapid=30640881 [bloomberg.com]
And English. And quite a lot of other nationalities. Amazon (US) is just a particularly horrible employee-abusive member of the franchise.
And they're all using the same brand and deploying the same datacentres and offering the same services and paying the local taxes (now at least!), and still complying with the local employment laws, and still making money for the Amazon brand.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Friday May 11 2018, @11:46AM
In Germany minimum wage is €8.84, or about US$10.55.
(Score: 3, Insightful) by TheGratefulNet on Thursday May 10 2018, @03:35PM (6 children)
in a nutshell:
- republicans are the party of the rich class, the 'controlling' class, the class that has no class (sorry, but its true) and they are a group of people that could not care less about their fellow man. they are all about the top 1% getting richer and dividing us even more, keeping us in-fighting.
- poor ignorant people tended to vote for the R party. seems like a contradiction, doesn't it? the party of the rich supported by the ultra poor. here's how they pulled it off: RELIGION. that's right, that's the secret sauce. the R's are also the party of christianity (or, so they would have us believe) and they constantly reinforce the church theory that 'dont rise up against your betters now; you'll have your time in heaven after you die'. seriously, that is forced into their brain every sunday, in one way or another.
- along with religion is the synthetic religion stuff; the anti-gay, anti-abortion and even anti-black feelings that the R's try to justify
add all that up and you can understand why so many americans CONSTANTLY vote against their own best interests. reason: they are fooled into it by their weakness (fear of death, need for a god in their lives, etc). once you give in to such delusions, the road is paved to shove more bullshit into their brains.
the R's were 'smart' to attach themselves to relgion. and religion attaches itself to young people, and the cycle repeats since few have the strength to reject it, when they are so young and so many stupid ideas are forced into their heads.
I can see non-americans being confused about why america constantly votes against its own interests. this is 100% the reason. the D's are not a perfect party, but they are nowhere near the evil that the R's are; in terms of conning people to vote for things that completely help the othe side and push their own side even more downward, over time. the R's really grabbed onto something and for the past 30 years or so, they have not given up on that idea since it works so well for them ;( ;(
all I can do is sit here, watch it all and sigh (and cry). its hard to watch your own country being forced backward by the rich bastards, who care for nothing but themselves.
"It is now safe to switch off your computer."
(Score: -1, Redundant) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10 2018, @03:42PM
stfu with your partisan bs
(Score: 3, Insightful) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 10 2018, @04:19PM (3 children)
Thinking like that just cost you lot an election to Donald Fucking Trump. Don't you think it might be time to reexamine your shit?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 2, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10 2018, @04:25PM
I wondered why he never uses his middle name.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10 2018, @10:18PM (1 child)
Keep telling yourself that. "We lot" didn't want Trump or Clinton, but the DNC fixed that shit cause they didn't want a REAL popular politician. Without the religious right wing nutters Trump would have had no chance even with a good percentage of people voting for him to give the establishment the middle finger. Need I remind you he lost the popular vote? The entire country needs to rethink their shit and get moving on election reform and busting down the DNC / GOP duopoly.
Thanks for playing Buzztard, trigger harder next time maybe it'll make up the difference.
(Score: 4, Funny) by The Mighty Buzzard on Thursday May 10 2018, @11:43PM
Oh, I get it. You're regretting that whole Listen and Believe doctrine you've been pushing. I mean, otherwise you just called Democrat voters utter morons who have to be lead around by the nose.
It also greatly amuses me that you're bitching about Bernie not getting the nod for losing the popular vote but bitching about Trump getting the office even though he did. This doesn't cause conflict in your brain even a little, does it?
My rights don't end where your fear begins.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10 2018, @10:39PM
> here's how they pulled it off: RELIGION
Religions say anything. You meant Christian religion.
underpaid? thou shalt not steal
overworked? six days shalt thou labour, and do all thy work
everything sacrificed to mammon? thou shalt have no other gods before me
So, even before "that ye love one another; as I have loved you" Jesus, who did not treat his disciples this way, it is apparent that no love for god is displayed in this context. Do you blame math when the waiter overcharges you? Then why do you people always blame religion in these contexts?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday May 10 2018, @05:10PM
Question 1: Is there a pricing difference between the US and European market, to cover any legislation?
Question 2: Wouldn't it be possible for Amazon in Europe to have "a possible deficit" covered by a surplus from Amazon US?
(Score: 2) by krishnoid on Thursday May 10 2018, @07:25PM
And of course, the great state of Texas wouldn't have put such a handsome, strong, and smart man in the office if they all didn't know that global warming is a Chinese conspiracy. Fake news! Stay strong, Texas warehouse workers!
Seriously, I'm thinking maybe they should simulate these conditions at the next Amazon shareholder's meeting.