In July, Amazon workers in Europe went on strike to protest what they describe as hot, windowless, soul-crushing work environments. Increasing fulfillment speeds means they need to hire more workers, under more sustainable speeds that don’t put worker’s lives in jeopardy.Īmazon is already dealing with serious complaints from employees, who describe harrowing work conditions at Amazon’s warehouses in the United States and across the world. If Amazon plans to effectively double the speed, it must also address existing workforce needs and ensure its workers are safe. They struggle already to maintain that pace. With two-day Prime shipping, Amazon fulfillment workers currently face speeds of 200-300 orders per hour in 12-hour shifts. Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is helping Amazon workers unionize in New York City, put it this way in a statement about the change: Such a quick turnaround, they say, will take a toll on their health and put their safety at risk. But the plan outraged some warehouse employees. The $800 billion online retailer launched one-day shipping in May, as part of an effort to get an upper hand on competitors like Walmart and Target. The planned strike comes at a crucial moment for Amazon. Amazon employees are starting to speak up (The company’s warehouse employees in Europe are largely unionized.) A strike in the US, where Amazon workers are not yet unionized, shows just how frustrated and desperate some employees have become. In November, on Black Friday, workers at Amazon warehouses in Spain, Germany, and France organized strikes, and protests were held in Italy and the United Kingdom. The planned strike is a bold move for US warehouse workers, who - unlike their colleagues in Europe - have never organized a work stoppage during a major shopping event. “Our policy is that more than 75 percent of associates are already exceeding rate expectations before any changes are considered.” “Associate performance is measured and evaluated over a long period of time as we know that a variety of things could impact the ability to meet expectations in any given day or hour,” the company spokesperson said in a statement to Vox. Several Amazon engineers who have protested the company’s inaction on climate change are planning to fly to Minnesota to support the striking warehouse employees.Ī spokesperson for Amazon told me that productivity measures at the Minnesota warehouse haven’t changed in since November. “We want to take the opportunity to talk about what it takes to make that work happen and put pressure on Amazon to protect us and provide safe, reliable jobs.” “Amazon is going to be telling one story about itself, which is they can ship a Kindle to your house in one day, isn’t that wonderful,” William Stolz, one of the Shakopee employees organizing the strike, told Bloomberg’s Josh Eidelson and Spencer Soper. Warehouse employees, who have long complained about punishing work conditions at Amazon’s fulfillment centers, are upset about the company’s recent decision to offer one-day shipping to Prime customers - putting unrealistic pressure on warehouse workers. Workers who package and ship items for Amazon in Shakopee, Minnesota, are planning a six-hour work stoppage during two shifts on July 15, the first day of Prime Day, Bloomberg reports.
A group of Amazon warehouse workers are planning to strike next week, during one of the company’s largest sales events of the year.
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