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Amazon warehouse workers pee into bottles because they are scared of being punished for taking a comfort break


Ryan Strome

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Amazon founder Jeff Bezos might be the richest man in the world, with a net worth of around $112 billion (£78.4 billon), but those working on his warehouse floors are so desperate to keep their jobs that they don't even take time to go the toilet.

Rushed fulfilment workers, who run around Amazon's warehouses "picking" products for delivery, have a "toilet bottle" system in place because the toilet is too far away, according to author James Bloodworth, who went undercover at a warehouse in Staffordshire, UK, for a book on low wages in Britain.

Bloodworth told The Sun: "For those of us who worked on the top floor, the closest toilets were down four flights of stairs. People just peed in bottles because they lived in fear of being ­disciplined over 'idle time' and ­losing their jobs just because they needed the loo."

Amazon is famous for tracking how fast its warehouse workers can pick and package items from its shelves, imposing strictly timed breaks and targets. It issues warning points for those who don't meet their goals or take extended breaks. 

A separate survey of Amazon workers, released on Monday, found almost three-quarters of fulfilment centre staff are afraid of using the toilet in case they miss their targets.

"[Targets] have increased dramatically. I do not drink water because I do not have time to go to the toilet," the survey quotes one anonymous worker as saying.

Another said: "The target grows every year. I do not have two more legs yet to make the 100% to pick, where you actually need to run and go to the toilet just during the break. Packing 120 products per hour is terribly heavy.

"You have to pack two products per minute. You do not have time to drink water because you go to the toilet after every evening sends messages to the scanner with the target and tells you to hurry."

The survey, compiled by worker campaign platform Organise, also found that workers felt considerably more anxious after joining Amazon.

Workers say they were punished for being sick

Another employee said she was ill while pregnant, and was still handed warning points.

And yet another said: "I turned up for my shift even though I felt like $&!#, managed 2 hours then I just could not do anymore. Told my supervisor and was signed off sick, I had a gastric bug (sickness and diarrhoea, very bad) saw my doc. Got a sick note with an explanation, but still got a strike."

Amazon disputed all of the allegations. The company said in a statement to Business Insider:

"Amazon provides a safe and positive workplace for thousands of people across the UK with competitive pay and benefits from day one. We have not been provided with confirmation that the people who completed the survey worked at Amazon and we don’t recognize these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings.

"We have a focus on ensuring we provide a great environment for all our employees and last month Amazon was named by LinkedIn as the 7th most sought after place to work in the UK and ranked first place in the US. Amazon also offers public tours of its fulfilment centres so customers can see first-hand what happens after they click "buy" on Amazon."

Amazon said it doesn't time workers' toilet breaks, and that it set its performance targets based on previous worker performance. The company said it provided coaching to help people improve, and that it used "proper discretion" when it came to sick leave and absences from work.

The company also said it provided on-site occupational health and physiotherapy support, as well as legal, financial, and workplace guidance.

http://uk.businessinsider.com/amazon-warehouse-workers-have-to-pee-into-bottles-2018-4

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I guess it's a good thing Amazon isn't coming to Calgary.

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Several Amazon workers 'have considered suicide since joining the company', poll reveals while warehouse staff claim they have urinated into bottles because they're afraid of 'time-wasting'

Some Amazon warehouse staff have felt suicidal since joining the company, according to a survey.

 

In a poll of 100 workers, more than half said they suffered from depression and eight people said they'd thought about killing themselves.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-5617511/Stressed-Amazon-warehouse-workers-UK-driven-brink-suicide.html

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While I can’t comment on the validity of the claims, I worked for an industry leading company for 3 years a decade ago that was very similar. While we weren’t told we couldn’t take bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, or sick days, it was incredibly frowned upon when one did. And those that did take lunch breaks never received promotion and were ultimately shifted to other places where they’d eventually quit.

 

There was one day I was driving to work, a little over an hour drive, through a complete blizzard. What would usually take me 10 minutes to get from my house to one marker, ended up taking me 45 minutes. I ended up spinning out and ended up in the ditch. I called my manager to tell him I wouldn’t be making it into work. Got written up for it.

 

Worst job environment I was ever apart of.

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10 minutes ago, Monty said:

While I can’t comment on the validity of the claims, I worked for an industry leading company for 3 years a decade ago that was very similar. While we weren’t told we couldn’t take bathroom breaks, lunch breaks, or sick days, it was incredibly frowned upon when one did. And those that did take lunch breaks never received promotion and were untimely shifted to other places where they’d eventually quit.

 

There was one day I was driving to work, a little over an hour drive, through a complete blizzard. What would usually take me 10 minutes to get from my house to one marker, ended up taking me 45 minutes. I ended up spinning out and ended up in the ditch. I called my manager to tell him I wouldn’t be making it into work. Got written up for it.

 

Worst job environment I was ever apart of.

I bet you are glad you don't work there anymore.

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2 minutes ago, Ryan Strome said:

I bet you are glad you don't work there anymore.

There were a few good things working there taught me, so it wasn’t a complete wash.

 

But as for taking care of your employees and ensuring they have a good “work-life balance”? Absolutely abysmal.

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Weird I knew a guy who worked at an Amazon warehouse down in the states a couple years ago and he really liked it.  Said pay wasn't amazing but he went there to make extra money to further his education and seemed to enjoy it.

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Of course. Legalized slavery in the 21st century. If it's not this, it's the gradual increase of everything from housing to food to your car and insurance to utilities to scratching your ass which forces more and more people over time to incur larger debt, work longer days, more hours, more years.

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