Jeg skrev til min gamle studiekammerat, der nu er direktør for Amazon. Han svarede dette:
I’d like to take this opportunity to reassure you that the safety of everyone who works at Amazon is my number one priority and, while I appreciate there have been concerns raised in the press about working conditions at Amazon, these do not reflect what it is really like to work here.
Amazon provides a safe and positive workplace for thousands of people across the UK. We have worked hard on ensuring we offer a great environment for all our employees, something that recently led to Amazon being named by LinkedIn as the 7th most sought after place to work in the UK (we were awarded first place in the U.S. poll).
Allegations that you may have seen in the press – that we monitor toilet breaks and that our associates don’t have time to drink water – are simply untrue. We provide breaks that are legally longer than required (30 mins lunch and 30 mins of other breaks (either 2 x15 mins or 1 x 30 min depending on site). It is important to us that all people working at Amazon receive their full break and walking time is allowed so they get the full 30 minutes.
We also provide employees with a competitive pay and benefits package. The pay rate for permanent Amazon fulfilment centre employees increases over their first two years of employment, after which time all employees earn £8.35 an hour and above. All permanent Amazon fulfilment centre employees are given stock grants, which over the last five years were on average equal to £1,000 or more per year per person. Employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection, subsidised meals and an employee discount, which combined are worth more than £700 annually, as well as a company pension plan.
Amazon has also introduced Career Choice, an innovative education programme which pre-pays 95% of tuition and associated fees for permanent employees to undertake nationally recognised courses and funds up to £8,000 over four years.
Next time you are in the UK I’d urge you to take a public tour (uk.amazonfctours.com) of one our fulfilment centres so you can see first-hand what happens after a customer clicks ‘buy’. We run these tours in sites across the globe and I’d be happy to arrange one for you, just let me know.
Jeg havde naturligvis ikke forventet andet. Svaret lyder fuldstændig (ned til formuleringer) som de forberedte svar fra Amazon, man kan læse på al den kritik, der inden for de seneste år er blevet rettet mod denne dominerende virksomhed.
Nu skal jeg bare formulere et svar, og her vil jeg bemærke, at det er påfaldende, at så mange Amazon-arbejdere fra så mange forskellige steder kritiserer det samme.
