Amazon workers tell bosses to scrap constant surveillance, micromanagement and unfair targets like Time Off Task
This week’s “Prime Day” means a week of extra-gruelling shifts for Amazon’s warehouse and delivery workers. So Foxglove has teamed up with workers’ rights network Organise to support Amazon workers in the UK who are demanding better pay and conditions.
Organise is in touch with thousands of Amazon workers. The workers report bad treatment, targets that grind them down, and very low pay – conditions which they feel seriously threaten their health.
“Prime Day”, along with Black Friday, is one of the most dangerous times of the year for these workers. A surge in sales boosts Amazon’s profits – but warehouse and delivery workers pay the price when the pressure piles up so high it can land people in hospital.
Warehouse staff are under constant surveillance – not only from managers and cameras, but also from the tools they use, like item scanners, which track their every move.
Staff get fired according to murky hidden targets, with names like “time off task”, which they can’t even see.
It’s no better for drivers who are constantly spied on and face dangerously unrealistic targets. A whopping 96% of drivers feel forced to drive dangerously to meet Amazon’s targets, according to a survey of hundreds of drivers from the Organise Network.
The key demands of the campaign from Amazon workers are:
- Stop micromanagement
- Bin unfair targets like Time Off Task
- End the constant surveillance
If you’re an Amazon worker, you can sign on to the campaign here. And if you’re not, but you have friends or family who are, please let them know about the campaign.