Nearly 90 per cent of Amazon India’s warehouse employees say they are not allowed sufficient time to use the restroom, according to a new survey that adds to a growing body of evidence of poor working conditions at the multinational corporation.
The results of the survey – conducted by the UNI Global Union, the Amazon India Workers Association and Jarrow Insights, a workers’ cooperative based in London – are detailed in an exhaustive report on the conditions that warehouse workers and drivers of the e-commerce giant in India have to daily endure.
The Independent last month reported an incident at the company’s Manesar warehouse in the northern Haryana state where workers were allegedly asked to make a pledge that they would not take any breaks, including to drink water or go to the bathroom, until they met their targets as they worked amid a brutal heatwave.
India’s labour ministry intervened after the national human rights commission asked for an investigation.
Responding to the ministry, Amazon India confirmed the incident but played it down as “unfortunate and isolated”.
The survey paints a contradictory picture.
Nearly 81 per cent of Amazon India warehouse employees say work targets set by the company are difficult or very difficult to achieve.
As unfortunate as it is, consumers won’t take on an individual cost to avoid this behavior, when it will have little effect if no once else does. The only real solution to this tragedy of the commons situation is government intervention to stop corporations from continuing this bullshit.