On 15th July 2019, the Amazon warehouse workers in Shakopee, Minnesota, launched a 6-hour strike on Prime Day, which is Amazon’s biggest shopping event of the year. The protest was organized to bring awareness to and protest the deplorable working conditions of Amazon workers. However, of the 100+ expected protesters, only a handful of employees showed up.
The protest was organized by the Awood center and is one of the few attempts by workers to bring some semblance of order to their harried lives as Amazon workers. While the protest has capitalized on some national attention, this was the first time that workers in the U.S chose to challenge Amazon, which consistently gas lights its workers.
Mohammed Hassan, a worker, stated that “We were expecting a lot of workers to come out today. There were managers, supervisors, and police that are standing at the gates and front doors, so they’re scared because of that. That’s the reason they couldn’t come out, and I’m sad for that.”
The demands at the heart of the protest were simple: convert temporary workers to full-time employees, let up on the productivity quotas, and work to address on-site injuries, which were a common occurrence. Moreover, the 15-dollar minimum wage is not enough to ensure worker satisfaction.
William Stolz, a worker who was part of the strike, said: “These should be jobs that are safe, reliable, and that people can depend on. It is very mentally stressful; it’s very physically stressful.”
Amongst the strikers was an Amazon engineer called Weston Fribely, who was part of the push for Amazon to implement a climate-change plan. Fribely stated in an interview with Recode that, “We see these issues as very deeply connected. At the root is Amazon employees not having a say in the decisions that affect their lives and their work. I think both the workers here in Minnesota and us, working for climate justice — I think we understand that just seeing any of these improvements happening at Amazon, it’s going to take all of us working together.”
Stolz also stated that some of the workers had been ‘spooked’ because of something that occurred but wasn’t sure what it was. “We don’t have a majority of workers, but we’ve decided to go with the workers we have who are ready to make a stand on Prime Day because it doesn’t take all of us to be able to send a powerful message.”
The protest also drew some attention from Democratic presidential contenders Warren and Sanders.
Warren tweeted: “I fully support Amazon workers’ Prime Day strike. Their fight for safe and reliable jobs is another reminder that we must come together to hold big corporations accountable.”
Meanwhile, Sanders also wrote: “A higher wage is only one component of the fight for workers’ rights. Amazon workers deserve safe working conditions, fair scheduling, and reasonable production demands. I stand with Amazon MSP1 workers in Minnesota and their #PrimeDayAmazon strike!”
Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon and its CEO, is the richest man in the world, with an estimated net worth of 110 billion dollars. On the other hand, the workers of his sprawling empire work in horrible conditions for minimum wages at the rate of 15 dollars per hour.
In March of this year, the Daily Beast reported that “between October 2013 and October 2018, emergency workers were summoned to Amazon warehouses at least 189 times for suicide attempts, suicidal thoughts, and other mental-health episodes.”
Emily Guendelsberger, the writer of ‘On the Clock: What Low-Wage Work Did to Me and How It Drives America Insane,’ wrote about her experience: “It feels like I’ve been hit by a garbage truck… I felt as if the company wanted us to be robots–never stopping, never letting our minds wander off task. I felt an incredible amount of pressure to repress the human “failings” that made me less efficient than a machine.”
She also wrote “Amazon in response said that this is not an “accurate portrayal of working in our buildings” and that it is “proud of our safe workplaces”.”
The average day of an Amazon worker is brutal and gruelling, demanding extreme physical assertion. The physical exertion can look like workers being on their feet for 12-hour shifts. They also have to walk a total of 15 to 20 miles through a 25-acre warehouse — as long as seven New York blocks to find merchandise for orders placed online.
But the physical exertion is exacerbated by the mental exhaustion that comes with the work. It has commonly been described as being held to the ‘productivity standards of a robot.’
Technology has supplemented the robotic work pace. It ensures that there is no room for inefficiency, sucking up all the downtime from the average day of the worker. The scan guns of the workers become their personal digital managers. Each and every action on the job was timed and monitored. When a task is fulfilled, the scan gun immediately assigns the worker a new task. It also counts down the seconds left to do the task in question.
Guendelsberger addresses this by writing, “It also tracks your location by GPS — and you take it everywhere with you, even the bathroom. Failure to stay ahead of the countdown was grounds for termination.”
Moreover, there is something called a ‘Time Off Task.’ This essentially means that there are only some minutes free during the day; in some cases, these are 18 minutes. These minutes include a bathroom break, a drink of water, or walking slower than what an algorithm dictates. Moreover, the lunch break was unpaid.
Also, Guendelsberger was told that “… using the bathroom too often is the same thing as stealing from the company.” Each and every bathroom break was taken note of and a daily report of her visits was sent to her supervisor.
The way the day is structured generates a buzz of panic and leads to isolation and monotony in routine. This has a toll on the workers’ mental health.
In addition, it has also come to surface that Amazon workers are left to deal with on-site injuries on their own. Such was the case of Michelle Quinones, who worked at a warehouse in Fort Worth, Texas.
Quinones began experiencing carpal tunnel symptoms for which she was sent to the Amcare clinic. However, her carpal tunnel progressed, requiring surgery to repair the injury to her tendons. The Amazon workers compensation insurer did not allow the surgery until February 2019.
An investigation by Guardian found that there have been several cases where the ‘Amazonians’ are left to their own devices after sustaining on-site injuries. These injuries mean that they can’t work, don’t have any income, and have to fight for months on end to get some benefits and medical attention.
Quinones stated. “It’s been a long 17 months. I ended up losing everything. I lost my apartment. I had to move back home to New Jersey.”
Given the appalling conditions of the workers, there has been a push to unionize; many warehouses in the US have come together to start organizing and pushing towards the creation of union to fight back against the treatment they receive.
This has been advocated by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union and New York City lawmakers. Their President, Stuart Appelbaum, stated, “Amazon has a record of routinely mistreating and exploiting its workers at all levels, whether they are employed in its corporate offices or in its warehouses. Amazon has operated as an anti-worker, union-busting company across the United States and across Europe.”
There have also been reports of on-site deaths since 2013.
Having a union will give the workers a solid layer of protection and a means through which they can demand their rights and organize a solid push-back against the deplorable conditions of the Amazonian workhouse.
Amazon has pushed back upon its workers and claims that all such reports are false. John Oliver criticized Amazon working conditions in a segment on his show, covering the appalling state of the warehouses and treatment of workers.
Dave Clark, the Amazon senior Vice President, in response to the segment, wrote a lengthy note on Twitter, “… he is wrong on Amazon. Industry-leading $15 minimum wage and comprehensive benefits are just one of many programs we offer… We are proud of the safe, quality work environment in our facilities – so much so that we offer tours to the public, ages six and up. But unlike over 100,000 other people this year, John and his producers did not take us up on our invitation to tour one of our facilities… if they had, they would have met the amazing people who work in our operations. People whose passion and commitment are what makes the Amazon customer experience special. I am proud of our team and to suggest they would work in an environment like the one portrayed is insulting.”
The company continues to resist the union and the reports, and the conditions of the workers prevail.
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