Some are assigned to the washrooms to check if workers are not wasting time during shift hours
At Amazon India’s five warehouses in Haryana, workers alleged that they are directed to take oaths as they won’t take toilet or water breaks until their target of unloading packages is completed.
On May 16, the workers were asked to take an oath after ending their 30-minute tea break, that they would not take toilet or water breaks until they achieved the target of unloading packages from six trucks a day.
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“We’re investigating these claims, but to be clear, we’d never make these kinds of requests on our employees as part of standard business practice. If we discovered an incident such as the one that’s been alleged, we’d immediately put a stop to it and ensure the manager involved was re-trained on our expectations of team support, health, and safety. We’ll continue to Inquire,” an Amazon spokesperson said.
The worker also alleged that women are the worst affected as “the trucks are too hot from being parked outside, and when the workers unload, they get knackered quickly.”
Amazon has confronted such allegations abroad before as well as the Occupational Safety and Health Administration in the US had in 2022 and 2023 sued the company’s insecure working conditions that were jinxed to report injuries properly.
Some are assigned to the washrooms to check if workers are not wasting time during shift hours, a 24-year-old works five days a week, ten hours a day and earns ₹10000 a month at Amazon India’s warehouses located in Haryana’s Manesar.
As per a report in Indian Express, the worker stated, “Even if we work without any breaks, including the lunch and tea breaks that are 30 minutes each, we can’t unload more than four trucks a day. Just two days ago, we took an oath that we would cease water and washroom breaks to improve performance and attain the goal.
A lady employee at the warehouse said, there is no restroom on the premises, saying, “If we fell ill, the only option is to go to the washroom or locker room. There is a sick room with a bed, but workers are denied of lying there for more than 10 minutes. I stand for nine hours a day and I am supposed to go through 60 small products or 40 medium-sized products every single day.
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Workers in the areas where products and packages are loaded and unloaded from trucks face serious problems. A male worker witnessed the plights of his several colleagues who had fainted from the intense heat but were given a paracetamol tablet and insisted on going back to work after resting for a while. Workers in the areas where products and packages are loaded and unloaded from trucks work in hectic conditions.
“All our buildings have heat index monitoring devices and we constantly check temperature changes, especially during summer months. Workers are free to take informal breaks throughout their shifts to use the restroom, get water, or talk to a manager or HR” an Amazon spokesperson said.
On 16th July 2023, an article published by the Business And Human Rights Resource Centre shared a detailed report about the issues faced by employees in Amazon warehouses. The report said that the workers alleged the difficult working conditions inside the Manesar warehouse and the pressure the employers give to meet the target every day.
There are trade unions, however, they are also raising the issues to fulfil the needs of the workers for better work ambience focusing on health, safety and comfort, the report stated.
