when working conditions are worse than that experienced in nineteenth century cotton mills, and you are forced to p!ss into a pop bottle rather than face the toilet police, it's probably the only bit of levity in their existence
Actually, I think you are out of touch .. I have a couple of colleagues who previously worked for them - there are some positives.
1. They pay well (Even the lowest paid manual work can be £16 an hour with overtime at £22 an hour). Bearing in mind the people that do these jobs are probably, usually, looking at minimum wage elsewhere and often zero hours contracts.
2. The work is always available and there are opportunities to choose the type of shifts you do.
3. There are perks - Amazon will pay up to 95% of training - without any commitment to stay at Amazon. One of my colleagues got an HGV licence with Amazon picking up virtually the entire cost of the training and two months after he got his HGV he left - no problem.
There are some cons .. the work is phyiscally challenging, lots of walking, standing, lifting, bending, picking up, putting down, it's boring and repetitive - you need to be fit and be prepared to work hard and consistently. They provide the statutory breaks - it's just rubbish that people have to piss in a bottle. There are targets to meet, but these are achievable if you are prepared to work - yes employees are monitored but if you look at the small number of Industrial Tribunals brought against them - they are not breaking employment laws.
There are some rotten reviews - but often you find that people who leave them were disgruntled because it was not easy money. I've worked in similar jobs in my youth - one summer I did 7 days a week 12 hour days alternating weeks with 12 hour nights - with a split shift change over 12 - 6 - 12 or 18 hours with a 12 hour break. That was really exploitative and incredibly brutal - but I was earining £63 a week in 1967 which was more than my Dad was earning as a teacher. I bought my first car with the money I earned and went on holiday for three weeks drivng overland to Yugolsavia with what was left ! Sometimes you do things for the money.
The reality is that there will always be people who are prepared to do these sort of physical jobs for the money they can earn - are they forced to do them ? Is it tough - too right it is but it's not slave laboyr. I'm only talking about their UK operation - how they treat employees in other countries - ?? I don't know.
I can't say that I have any love for Amazon - they have a lot to answer for - their global manipulation of their tax affairs means they seem to pay less than their fair share of tax - in all the countries in which they trade. They have contributed to the demise of a lot of small businesses, book shops and niche trades that used to be found in shops in the High Street - but everyone who has ever bought anything from Amazon (and I am as guity as the next) also share some responsibility ! They are an amazing success - ordering an item at 9:30pm and getting it delivered to your door the following day at 3:00pm ... it's very convenient. Albeit it in a box that is 10 times the size needed !! My compost bin benefits from the bigger ones and the smaller ones get recycled with deliveries of honey !
If the public didn't support them then then they would not exist and the 75,000 people employed by them in the UK would have no jobs.
Glib commments about pissing in bottles is just one side of the coin ...
