Ever wondered how Amazon manages to have such efficient and speedy delivery almost all the time? The answer would be thousands of underpaid, overworked workers who ‘break their backs’ in their warehouses.
Amazon, the largest e-commerce company in the world, has been aggressively expanding its logistics over many years. One of its more ambitious plans is the last-mile delivery, where small warehouses are built in smaller areas so that products could be delivered even faster. While this is great news for the customers, it’s not so great for the workers working there. For many months, there has been growing frustration among these workers who have to work over-time to meet the goals. In holiday seasons such as the current one, things get all the worse.
In such a small warehouse in Sacramento, workers spilt the beans to Vox during their investigative report. They said that they are denied the basic facilities offered to other part-time workers. They don’t get the subsidized health insurance and they are only allowed 20 hours of “off hours” each quarter. Taking more time off, be it for personal tragedies or health issues, can get you fired without notice. When workers took to the management to demand the facilities provided to other part-time Amazon workers, they got a stranger response. Apparently, people working in these small warehouses were Class Q (in some cases, Class M) workers, who are not eligible for the same benefits. The workers claim that they were never told about such class of designations.
Now, a group of such workers called Amazonians United Sacramento have come together and signed a public petition addressed to the company. Among other requests, they have demanded pay for over-time work during Prime Week, Amazon’s annual big sale. A spokesperson for the company has admitted receiving the petition but refused to comment further.
Amazon might be one of the biggest companies in the world, with its owner being the richest man on the planet, but its workers remain very far away from that glory.
