---

@uglypugtrading wrote:

"But losing a point which leads to the sack if you are ill? That's unacceptable IMO. Is it even legal?" 

 

The majority of the staff at these places are on temporary zero-hour contracts are employed via an agency. As Amazon would have a service contract with the agency and not an employment contract with you they can terminate the contract at any time. 

 

We live in an age of agencies and zero hour contracts. Temporary staff do not have the automatic right to file an unfair dismissal case (or perhaps after one year, can't remember exactly). But they can sack you when they want, for whatever they want. 

 

You make it sound like people have become inherently lazy, don't worry my relatives did too when I jacked in a 'picking' position. I'd suggest going to do it before judging - these places are seemingly exempt from almost all employment laws, do not allow union representation of any sort, and they physically and mentally break people.

 

I worked on the fifth picking floor (top floor) of a place very similar to the one depicted on Amazon and the temperature up there was unbelievable. People fainting and collapsing as they don't dare take a break, for a 5 minute drink of water will put them under the target required to keep their job and they have kids and rent to pay. 

 

I saw a woman faint and unconcious for around fifteen minutes (yes, really). No ambulance was called. Instead their priority was cordoning off the area to ensure that other employees didn't witness it and refuse to work. 

 

I knew somebody who declared in their application that they were epileptic. A few weeks later they had a fit. They were told not to return. Two different major national unions were turned away at the door in a one month period. (refuse to deal with any unions). 

 

You hurt yourself at work then you just get dropped. No sick pay, just told not to come back. 

 

People of colour were routinely searched daily. I was searched just twice in six weeks. 

 

And that is the warehouse of a major UK online retailer, in the three years that it has been open it has had a staff turnover of 5:1. It employs circa 3000 people and three times that have been in and been out (once you leave you aren't allowed back, ever). 

 

Such is the reputation that this warehouse has gained in three years that the local job centre (even under this Tory government) refuses to advertise the positions. 

 

This warehouse was also built with the benefit of a massive grant from the public purse. A government sponsored return to the 19th century. 

 

The word locally is that Amazon is worse (there is one 15 miles away). If Amazon really is worse, then I pity anybody who has to work for them.

 

"a bit of hard work never hurt anyone" - The thing is, it does. It does if you are set unrealistic targets and sacrifice your health to try and meet them, and then get sacked when you injure yourself (people actually run around with those huge metal trolleys to reach the targets, and getting rammed in the back of the leg with one of them would complete wipe you out for weeks, nobody is ever told to stop running with a 150kg metal trolley because that is what is required to exceed the targets that they set).

 

I don't want to see this in the UK and neither should you. Although most of us would be hypocritical in our criticism, as no doubt most of us sell stuff which has been produced in countries with slack employment regulations and no doubt none of us can audit our supply chains. For all I know some of my low cost stud stuff could be being made by 10 year olds working 18 hours a day for a bowl of rice. 

 

Most of us look for the best price also. So society has to take the blame really. Amazon gets picked up on quite a bit, but many other major retailers operate very similar systems.

---

I agree with most of what you say I really do. However to me the way the programme was presented was poor. It ws set up as a super fit jogger couldn't cope with the strains of walking during his shift, so if he couldn't do it, who could? The union rep on there, to me, almost resented the fact people had to work.

I think the program came across poorly.

If the conditions are truely that bad (and I am not suggesting they are not) just in my opinion the program did not show this, then surely some government department should be involved. 

New laws are clearly needed you would think, to police these new super centres.

As I say, the thing that stuck out to me was the illness situation. Truely shocking IMO and if this is allowed, then clearly something in not right with the law makers of this country. No offense intended.