Seven Day Week at Amazon

[Scottish Business Owner]

A really interesting article below regarding the working practices of Amazon in the run up to Xmas. Apparently they insist that temp staff work what in effect is a seven day week with no sick leave :crying:

PC Pro: News: Amazon staff work seven-day week without sick leave

Do you think it's reasonable for an employer to insist on such a practice. Their attitude seems to be if you dont like it then dont bother applying!

 

[Brian McIntosh]

It's a pretty draconian situation and I've probably not helped the situation by buying 3 things from Amazon in the run up to Christmas. With unemployment the way it is, I think people will put up with crap working conditions. Doesn't mean to say that Amazon are correct but instead playing on peoples insecurities. Maybe a wee strike is called for?

 

[Former Member 1]

A really interesting article below regarding the working practices of Amazon in the run up to Xmas. Apparently they insist that temp staff work what in effect is a seven day week with no sick leave :crying:

PC Pro: News: Amazon staff work seven-day week without sick leave

Do you think it's reasonable for an employer to insist on such a practice. Their attitude seems to be if you dont like it then dont bother applying!

No; it's completely unacceptable. And as a direct result of what I've just read I've cancelled all my outstanding orders with them and emailed them asking to close my account. I had no idea they were treating people like this.

 

[Former Member 1]

I received the following response from Amazon...

Dear Matt,

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk regarding certain coverage concerning working conditions in Amazon fulfilment centres. We understand your concerns and appreciate the time you’ve taken to write to us regarding this issue.

Amazon.co.uk takes the well-being of our workforce very seriously and strongly feels that the media coverage does not accurately represent the working environment within our fulfilment centres or within Amazon in general.

It’s no secret that the final quarter of the year is the busiest period for all of Amazon and that everyone in the company is working extremely hard to delight our customers. Our fulfilment centres are integral to our customer commitment; these are industrialised environments; where we have processes and systems in place to ensure excellence and safety; where we have our valued workforce functioning coherently and as part of teams to ensure we deliver to customers; where we have a democratically elected employee forum to represent the interests of workforce and where we ensure that the work force is treated with dignity and respect at all times.

We are proud of the efforts of all who work for us and in return for the commitment and enthusiasm shown by those in our fulfilment centres, we are delighted to reward hard work and dedication by competitive wages and performance-related pay.

We believe that the Amazon environment is a positive place to work in. It would seem that this belief is shared by the temporary workers currently employed for this busy holiday season. Demand for permanent roles from our temporary employees is at such a high level that we no longer need to recruit externally. We have already seen well over 100 temporary employees become permanent this year alone. During 2008, we have taken on over 4,000 temporary fulfilment centre associates in the UK and are benefiting from the lowest level of employees leaving the company in 11 years. We hope that a good number of these will go on to become permanent members of the Amazon.co.uk team as well.

We hope that you will continue to shop with us.

Thank you for time and for your interest in Amazon.co.uk

Warmest regards


Triona B.
Amazon.co.uk


Spin and nonsense in my view, and I've written back insisting they close my account. Not that I suppose it matters much.. one account. :001_unsure:

 

[stugster]

"I'm going to keep bashing my keyboard in the vain attempt of completely missing the point in question. Hopefully, if you receive lots of paragraphs relating to how we operate (meh) and we write about the bleeding obvious (Christmas being a busy time) you'll completely forget the reason you e-mailed us: workers having to do a 7 day week."

 

[johnthesearcher]

Hi guys and thanks to for bringing that one to our attention.

Having read the report from PC Pro and Matt's post above, I too, have instructed Amazon to cancel my acoount as their response to both the report and Matt's e mail is not surprising considering the statement that - An Amazon spokesman told The Sunday Times that anyone not willing to work "many hours" should not accept a job with the company.

The Amazon respondent to Matt's e mail should have been a politician as most of them seem to avoid the point then proceed to answer questions that haven't been asked or reply to statements that haven't been made

To extend Stuart's point above......the letter to Matt finishes with - 'We hope that you will continue to shop with us. (NO)

Thank you for time and for your interest in Amazon.co.uk. (I just lost interest)

What part of 'cancellation' didn't she get?

John

 

[Brian McIntosh]

Maybe I'm being stupid here but I don't have an account at Amazon to cancel. I won't be buying anything more from them though.

 

[Power Lunch Club]

And I suspect that they will not be the last company to behave in this reprehensible manner.

 

[Former Member 1]

Well no; of course they'll not be the last. Simply because they can get away with it. And if people don't make a point of complaining it simply strengthens their position and lets them away with it unchecked. ....99% of our customers must be happy because they haven't said they're not!

If you've ordered from Amazon you probably have a password to get into their system. By emailing them and insisting that they delete your 'account' you register a protest. By insisting that someone does this you cost them time, effort and money as well as custom. It would take a huge viral effort; but if enough people do this it would send them a fairly solid message.

I wrote back, and got this somewhat

arrogant and dismissive reply....

Thank you for contacting Amazon.co.uk. Unfortunately, we have provided you with our response and we cannot comment further on this issue. I have closed your account as you have requested.

Warmest regards,


Liam OShea
Executive Customer Relations
Amazon.co.uk

I'm not naive enough to expect any more..... Their first reply was just spin, this one translates to 'actually Mr Quinn; we just don't give a damn'...

 

[Power Lunch Club]

Thank you for time and for your interest in Amazon.co.uk. (I just lost interest)

What part of 'cancellation' didn't she get?

John

A standard reply by the sounds of it.

But it's a sad sign of the times though....people like you John, Matt and others...(I would as well but don't have an account with them) are motivated to take action,....but companies like Amazon thrive on people who won't change,...it's a bit like banks, no matter how crap they get, we stay with them because its easier than the hassle of changing.