An undercover report into a UK Amazon warehouse (NASDAQ:AMZN) has documented shocking working conditions in which workers allegedly urinate into bottles to avoid toilet break penalties. The report is authored by British journalist James Bloodworth, who worked undercover as an employee covering ten-hour shifts at an Amazon warehouse in Staffordshire, UK, whilst writing a book on minimum-wage life in the country.
Mr. Bloodworth told The Sun newspaper that for some workers, “the closest toilets were down four flights of stairs,” meaning that it would take workers too much time to go on a toilet break. “People just peed in bottles because they lived in fear of being disciplined over ‘idle time’,” he said.
>> Amazon Stocks Falling as ‘Obsessed’ Trump Voices Dislike of Company
The warehouse is huge, measuring 700,000 sq ft with around 1,200 employees. Such is the size of the facility that on average, according to Bloodworth, workers will walk about 10 miles in a day. In addition, toilets can be up to a ten-minute walk away.
This is not the first report into an Amazon warehouse – ironically dubbed “fulfillment centers” in true dystopian fashion – which describes concerning working conditions. A survey by British worker community Organise contains dozens of reports by Amazon workers who feel that they are worked too hard by the firm. “Only robots can work as per Amazon’s concept,” says one. “If any human worked like Amazon insists for more than a year, I believe that person has some supernatural power or more likely they’ll get very sick.”
“The breaks are too strict, by the time you walk to get a drink you don’t have time to use [the] toilet let alone sit down. If you’re 2 minutes late you get a ‘break abuse’, at 5 break abuses you are fired,” said another.
Meanwhile, UK newspaper The Mirror yesterday quoted another Organise poll which stated that some Amazon staff in the country have considered suicide. In a poll of 100 workers, more than half have suffered from depression, while eight said that they have had suicidal thoughts.
>> Gun Control in the US: Wells Fargo CEO Says It’s Up to Government
Amazon has disputed the recent allegations, claiming that they have not been provided with proof that the workers surveyed had actually been employed by the company. In a statement to Business Insider, the firm said: “We don’t recognize these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings … 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.” In addition, the firm also points out that it offers public tours of its warehouses so that “customers can see first-hand what happens after they click ‘buy’ on Amazon.”
The controversy doesn’t seem to be weighing on investors’ consciences, though – Amazon stocks are up 0.91% today, bringing its per-share price to $1,444.27 USD. The firm currently has a market cap of $699.2 billion.
Featured image: Seattle Times
