by Akira Ohgaki
Allentown: Inside Amazon.com warehouse workers complain of brutal conditions – Morning Call
[Via The Morning Call]
Allentown, Pa. — Elmer Goris spent a year working in Amazon.com’s Lehigh Valley warehouse, where books, CDs and various other products are packed and shipped to customers who order from the world’s largest online retailer.
The 34-year-old Allentown resident, who has worked in warehouses for more than 10 years, said he quit in July because he was frustrated with the heat and demands that he work mandatory overtime. Working conditions at the warehouse got worse earlier this year, especially during summer heat waves when heat in the warehouse soared above 100 degrees, he said.
He got light-headed, he said, and his legs cramped, symptoms he never experienced in previous warehouse jobs. One hot day, Goris said, he saw a co-worker pass out at the water fountain. On other hot days, he saw paramedics bring people out of the warehouse in wheelchairs and on stretchers.
“I never felt like passing out in a warehouse and I never felt treated like a piece of crap in any other warehouse but this one,” Goris said. “They can do that because there aren’t any jobs in the area.”
[More]
Just amazing that it is cheaper to treat people like crap than to build a modern supply warehouse. I figured that Amazon would be using some of the cutting edge approaches. Like Kiva’s system, where robots bring the inventory to the people to fulfill. And where the inventory is sorted by popularity.
Instead, Amazon hires other companies to supply the people to scramble around in a poorly organized factory.
Amazon seems to be involved in some of the things we expect from foreign sweatshops, claiming that the horrible temp work could become a permanent job and then making sure that never happened.
I may really have to consider much more carefully my purchases from Amazon.
