Former Amazon warehouse worker sounds alarm ahead of Prime Day

 

Amazon's annual Prime Day event will be held on July 16 and 17, but behind the deals lie health and security concerns for warehouse and delivery workers, according to one former employee.

Mostafa Henaway knows all too well the health risks faced by Amazon workers. Three years ago, Henaway penned an article in The Breach where he detailed how he infiltrated Amazon's Laval warehouse and what he learned from the experience.

Henaway is now a community organizer with the Immigrant Workers Centre in Montreal, an organization that defends the rights of immigrants in their workplaces. He is also a PhD candidate at Concordia University focusing on working conditions in e-commerce warehouses.

According to his experience and testimonies from workers during Amazon Prime Day, warehouse and delivery staff work 50 hours a week, have less access to personal time off, and must take on mandatory overtime.

"Workers are walking 20 kilometres a shift, also [during] a moment of extreme heat. Across [Amazon]'s workforce, there is no room to say, 'It's 40 degrees, I'm going to take an extra five minutes to drink that water.'"

Amazon denied this allegation.

Henaway noted how essential the services of warehouse and delivery workers are.

"We all appreciate getting that package the next day, but behind that, it's not actually Amazon's technology," he said. "In Quebec, it's over 2,000 workers, who are 24 hours a day, seven days a week, making sure that people get what they need, on time and delivered to their doorstep, and those workers should be respected."

Agrait said that employees may be asked to work overtime during times of high demand.

"But, they’ll never be asked to work more than 10 hours per day and no more than 50 hours in a week - which is in compliance with Canadian labour laws," she said.

She added that they aim to provide several days notice when overtime is necessary, and that it is "common-practice in the retail industry during high volume events."

High levels of surveillance

Pressure also comes in the form of quotas, said Henaway.

"Workers are having to fulfill over 200 packages per hour," he said. "Even though Amazon declares to the public that they don't have quotas, workers go to their meetings when they start their shift, they are told there are no quotas, but then people are punished for not making quotas. They're given automated warnings, they're disciplined."

When asked for comments about quotas, Amazon spokesperson Barbara Agrait said: “At Amazon, employees’ safety is our top priority and at the core of everything we do. Amazon does not have fixed quotas at our facilities. Instead, we assess performance based on safe and achievable expectations and take into account time and tenure, peer performance, and adherence to safe work practices. Less than 0.5 per cent of frontline employees are separated from the company due to performance. We’re constantly listening to and engaging with our employees and providing them with the resources they need to be successful.”

Henaway said workers are heavily monitored. According to him, the number and length of bathroom breaks are monitored, and supervisors check the bathrooms "constantly."

Agrait said employees are free to take informal breaks throughout their shifts to use the restroom, get water, or talk to a manager or HR, in addition to their regularly scheduled breaks. She added that they "immediately investigate" concerns around managers asking employees to prioritize productivity over safety.

Artificial intelligence cameras are also used to operate Amazon's fulfillment centres and monitor employees' productivity, said Henaway.

"At the same time, workers wear devices that tell them what their next task is, or they have a monitoring station, which tells them [how long they have] to fulfill that package," said Henaway. "On top of this, you have all the supervisors monitoring that data. So, that level of, of stress is immense."

Agrait said they use technology in their facilities to ensure employees' safety and security of our employees. She added it helps keep track of inventory in their facilities.

"It would be irresponsible if we didn’t," she said.

Agrait said Amazon doesn’t use camera technology in their warehouses to monitor employees and directed workers to their managers for more information.

Henaway noted that the level of surveillance coupled with high productivity standards faced by Amazon workers often lead to mental health risks and burnouts.

He also pointed to a study showed that Amazon has a 150 per cent turnover rate annually. "That is not a sign of a good employer, if the fact is that your entire workforce is changing in less than a year."

Amazon said the draft documents cited in the study had not been fully vetted or approved.

Immigrant workers disproportionately affected

The rhythm and repetition linked to the pace of work heighten health and safety risks, said Henaway. He added that workers, especially immigrant workers, aren't well equipped and informed about their resources in the event of an injury.

"We hear from workers and what we see at the Immigrant Workers Centre, is that a lot of times when workers are injured, they're not given the right information," said Henaway.

Agrait said Amazon has allocated more than $750 million this year towards safety enhancements, programs, and technologies.

“Our safety performance has continued to improve, and we’re proud of our progress which includes a 30 per cent reduction in recordable incidents across our worldwide network since 2019,” Agrait wrote in the statement.

She said that all employees go through safety training on Day 1 and receive additional training based on their role in the warehouse.

“While we do experience higher order volumes during busy shopping periods, our commitment to safety doesn’t change: Safety is our top priority every single day, and we’re constantly working to ensure employees have safe, comfortable, and inclusive workplaces,” wrote Agrait.

Henaway said that, for many immigrant Amazon workers, it is often their first job in the country.

"For them, this job is very important, despite the kind of conditions and the issues that [they] face," said Henaway. "And so a lot of workers bear it for as long as they can."

According to him, there is a two-tiered workforce at Amazon, divided into blue and white badges, or temporary and permanent workers. He explained workers start off as white badges, and stay in the hopes of obtaining a blue badge, or permanent employment.

He added that immigrant workers are often scared to speak up.

"There's a lot of pressure when workers are organizing to stand up for their basic rights," said Henaway. "They feel that this could affect their immigration, when actually it has nothing to do with one or the other, or their fundamental rights regardless of their immigration status."

The workers at Amazon’s Laval’s warehouse were granted the right to unionize last May. A month later, Amazon challenged the certification of a union, as it said the process was unlawful because it involved signing union cards instead of voting in a secret ballot. The company filed for the union’s certificate to be revoked entirely. 

American Senate review

A report released Tuesday by Sen. Bernie Sanders said Amazon Prime Day is a "major cause of injuries" for warehouse workers across the United States.

The report is based on information from a year-long investigation into Amazon's safety practices by the Senate, interviews with more than 100 current and former workers, as well as internal company data from 2019 and 2020. It said the highest weekly injury rates for warehouse workers occured during peak shopping times like the holidays and Prime Day.