Never read so much tosh in my life. They clearly don’t have a clue about actual sweatshops. Plenty of people work long shifts, performing physical work without moaning to the guardian.
Hyperbole is so hot right now.
“It’s a Chinese sweatshop in the UK,” said the second worker at Tilbury. “It’s how they set up their model.”
I’ve no doubt that it’s hard work being an Amazon picker, but they might want to actually read about the conditions of a Chinese sweatshop before they make a comparison.
Amazon could pay higher wages but why would they? It’s the government’s responsibility to set a minimum wage that people can afford to eat on.
It’s also the government’s responsibility to ensure companies pay their own share of taxes which they’ve failed to do. Instead we hand them tax credits despite billions of profits just in the UK.
>Amazon said total UK revenues, including all activities from retail to cloud computing services, increased by 12.6% to £23.2bn last year, putting the business slightly ahead of Asda, the UK’s third-largest supermarket, in scale and more than twice the size of Marks & Spencer.
Not like they can’t afford to pay higher wages.
Are Americans the worst people to work for?
Business does what business does. The evil is only when a government lets them do it.
This last decade the Conservatives have been agressively pursuing this ideology, first with those at the bottom of society but then increasing ever higher.
Is anyone actually getting a raise in line with inflation? Maybe some bankers but that’s about it. I certainly didn’t (NHS). If they don’t like it then they are welcome to quit and find a better-paying job.
>The worker rents a house with her husband for £1,350 a month without bills. “My salary is £1,600. … I’m lucky I’m married, otherwise I’d be homeless.”
I managed a solo private rent on min wage. You wouldn’t need as big a place were you single hen.
While comparing it to sweatshop is a bit much, Amazon have your entire shift weighed and measured from how much time to pick items to how long you have to take a dump. I don’t do factory work anymore but I would certainly never work for them.
I get that a 35p pay rise is terrible.
But nobody blinks an eyelid when the police or nurses etc are forced to go YEARS without a pay rise due to pay freezes etc
Weird.
Pity Amazon didn’t spend all that money they spent on advertising what a “great” employer they are, and warehouse tours to “prove” it (but only carefully arranged ones) on their actual staff.
Would probably have been easier and cheaper in the long run…
The only way is to Unionise, always has been, always will be.
As an ex-amazon blue badge holder, I can say that the conditions are nowhere near a “chinese sweat shop”.
The job isn’t that bad when you look at it in comparison to other companies. (Still not great though).
I’ve also done warehousing for Iceland and what they expect you to do and the way the treat you in a -30c warehouse is 10x worse than Amazon.
I worked for amazon last year between August and January. Terrible company to work for long term but ok if you don’t mind weekly pay and pain. I actually lost feeling in my left big toe for about two months after I left due to the pressure on my feet and legs.
It’s time people boycotted the likes of Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo etc. anyway. We are all being shafted for no reason but being pit against each other by those at the top to take the attention away from them. Amazon are a symptom of the wider issues of capitalism and neoliberalism, which are what we should really be tackling.
It might sound really obvious, but I think not everyone (in the general public, not necessarily on this sub) understands that Amazon absolutely does not give a fuck. It’s not like other companies who at least make a pretence at benefits, free fruit, shit like that. I see people often assume Amazon treats employees like other FAANG do which couldn’t be further from the truth. No matter whether warehouse or corporate, Amazon will spend as little as possible on employees.
If something or someone tries to block them from doing something (like in France) , they’ll find a way around it, no matter the public outcry. Regular strikes in Germany? No problem, we will take a few warehouses and move them to Poland (I think they didn’t expect Poles to unionise asap 🤣)
Capitalism DOES NOT WORK.
Jeffery Beezos needs every single penny he can squeeze out of his employees because greed. It wouldn’t cost him anything to change the entire working approach and treat his employees like humans. Instead of punishing them if they dare to use the toilets, dare to take a break etc..
​
Instead, he’ll rather sack everyone and get new tools in to use and discard to one side.
18 comments
Never read so much tosh in my life. They clearly don’t have a clue about actual sweatshops. Plenty of people work long shifts, performing physical work without moaning to the guardian.
Hyperbole is so hot right now.
“It’s a Chinese sweatshop in the UK,” said the second worker at Tilbury. “It’s how they set up their model.”
I’ve no doubt that it’s hard work being an Amazon picker, but they might want to actually read about the conditions of a Chinese sweatshop before they make a comparison.
Amazon could pay higher wages but why would they? It’s the government’s responsibility to set a minimum wage that people can afford to eat on.
It’s also the government’s responsibility to ensure companies pay their own share of taxes which they’ve failed to do. Instead we hand them tax credits despite billions of profits just in the UK.
>Amazon said total UK revenues, including all activities from retail to cloud computing services, increased by 12.6% to £23.2bn last year, putting the business slightly ahead of Asda, the UK’s third-largest supermarket, in scale and more than twice the size of Marks & Spencer.
Not like they can’t afford to pay higher wages.
Are Americans the worst people to work for?
Business does what business does. The evil is only when a government lets them do it.
This last decade the Conservatives have been agressively pursuing this ideology, first with those at the bottom of society but then increasing ever higher.
Is anyone actually getting a raise in line with inflation? Maybe some bankers but that’s about it. I certainly didn’t (NHS). If they don’t like it then they are welcome to quit and find a better-paying job.
>The worker rents a house with her husband for £1,350 a month without bills. “My salary is £1,600. … I’m lucky I’m married, otherwise I’d be homeless.”
I managed a solo private rent on min wage. You wouldn’t need as big a place were you single hen.
While comparing it to sweatshop is a bit much, Amazon have your entire shift weighed and measured from how much time to pick items to how long you have to take a dump. I don’t do factory work anymore but I would certainly never work for them.
I get that a 35p pay rise is terrible.
But nobody blinks an eyelid when the police or nurses etc are forced to go YEARS without a pay rise due to pay freezes etc
Weird.
Pity Amazon didn’t spend all that money they spent on advertising what a “great” employer they are, and warehouse tours to “prove” it (but only carefully arranged ones) on their actual staff.
Would probably have been easier and cheaper in the long run…
The only way is to Unionise, always has been, always will be.
As an ex-amazon blue badge holder, I can say that the conditions are nowhere near a “chinese sweat shop”.
The job isn’t that bad when you look at it in comparison to other companies. (Still not great though).
I’ve also done warehousing for Iceland and what they expect you to do and the way the treat you in a -30c warehouse is 10x worse than Amazon.
I worked for amazon last year between August and January. Terrible company to work for long term but ok if you don’t mind weekly pay and pain. I actually lost feeling in my left big toe for about two months after I left due to the pressure on my feet and legs.
It’s time people boycotted the likes of Amazon, Uber, Deliveroo etc. anyway. We are all being shafted for no reason but being pit against each other by those at the top to take the attention away from them. Amazon are a symptom of the wider issues of capitalism and neoliberalism, which are what we should really be tackling.
It might sound really obvious, but I think not everyone (in the general public, not necessarily on this sub) understands that Amazon absolutely does not give a fuck. It’s not like other companies who at least make a pretence at benefits, free fruit, shit like that. I see people often assume Amazon treats employees like other FAANG do which couldn’t be further from the truth. No matter whether warehouse or corporate, Amazon will spend as little as possible on employees.
If something or someone tries to block them from doing something (like in France) , they’ll find a way around it, no matter the public outcry. Regular strikes in Germany? No problem, we will take a few warehouses and move them to Poland (I think they didn’t expect Poles to unionise asap 🤣)
Capitalism DOES NOT WORK.
Jeffery Beezos needs every single penny he can squeeze out of his employees because greed. It wouldn’t cost him anything to change the entire working approach and treat his employees like humans. Instead of punishing them if they dare to use the toilets, dare to take a break etc..
​
Instead, he’ll rather sack everyone and get new tools in to use and discard to one side.