31 Amazon Employees Share Their Working Conditions As A Response To Jeff Bezos’ Wealth Continuously Growing
Jeff Bezos is the richest person on the planet. As of 2020, the Amazon owner is worth approximately 175 billion USD. However, not all of the 798,000 people at the company enjoy hearing about his success.
A viral Twitter thread has Amazon employees sharing stories about their poor work environment, sub-par safety standards, and unfair pay, calling Bezos an autocrat and suggesting that he's accumulating his wealth at their expense.
This exchange on Twitter kicked off a viral thread, where Amazon employees explain why Jeff Bezos' wealth isn't worth celebrating
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Austin, an ex-Amazon employee who agreed to tell Bored Panda about his experience at the company, worked there for about 2 years. "I worked every position besides the manager, all shifts, days and nights," he said. "I decided to leave after my mental health was deteriorating due to being locked basically in this giant steel building with fluorescent lighting."
"I couldn't talk to anyone, we were constantly hounded to go faster and push harder and to push out extra volume. I began to hate my day to day life because all I got to do was the same exact thing as yesterday. It was incredibly stressful worrying about losing your job every day and if you wanted a personal day, then you better not get sick because you will lose your job."
Looking back, Austin does not regret leaving. "It showed me the shitty side of capitalist America and how much our employers don’t give a flying f about us. It's all about rates and money for them," he explained. "I'd like to add that I'd like people to think about how capitalism is the root of all evil. I'm not saying communism or socialism is the answer but obviously capitalism isn't it."
In August, ex-Amazon worker Christian Smalls even led a protest of the corporation's coronavirus standards outside CEO Jeff Bezos' $16 million apartment in New York City.
A few dozen people reportedly showed up, demanding that Amazon allow employees to unionize and "a federal wealth tax on the top 3% of earners in the United States," according to a press release from Smalls' group, the Congress of Essential Workers.
"I have workers [who] contact me all the time. They're not protected still," Smalls told FOX Business before the protest. "There are cases in buildings, people are still contracting the virus. ... Some people are bringing the virus home, and relatives are dying. It's an unfortunate situation they're putting their workers in."
Smalls was fired in March after organizing a small walkout over conditions at a Staten Island warehouse. He quickly gained media spotlight after calling for Amazon's JFK8 fulfillment center to be shut down for deep cleaning and accusing the corporation of lying about how many workers have tested positive for the virus.
"It cost me my career. Guess what? I have no regrets," Smalls said.
If ALL Amazon workers did this on the same day - that very same day the pay and work conditions would be improved. If MUCH more Amazon workers did this, well then the change would be incremental.
Jeff Bezos, on the other hand, talked up the perks of a job at Amazon in a letter to shareholders in April, proudly stating that the lowest paid Amazon worker makes more than 40 million Americans in the US, earning $15 an hour versus the US federal minimum wage of $7.25 an hour.
The company raised its minimum wage to $15 in 2018. "It had an immediate and meaningful impact on the hundreds of thousands of people working in our fulfillment centers," Bezos said. We want other big employers to join us by raising their own minimum pay rates, and we continue to lobby for a $15 federal minimum wage."
However, Austin doesn't think that makes up for anything. "When I started, it was $13 an hour, and then it went up. I think it is ridiculous to be proud of that. That should be an industry standard to provide survivable wages. I think [he's just embarrassing himself]. If I got paid $25 an hour, I'd reconsider, but I didn't even get to go to the bathroom when I needed to. And honestly, $15 an hour is still barely scraping by."
Something tells me other people featured in this list would agree with Austin, too. Do you? Let us know in the comments.
That's exactly what my Mother says. She calls it the modern day plantation
I am not American and I cannot for the life of me understand why you are OK with laws that permit this kind of work environment
People, don't worry about Pauline. She's most likely a russian bot designed to cause a conflict. Stop reacting to it, it will only encourage its activity... Same holds true for FB, please be careful as to whom you're replying to!! They're only designed to diffuse rage and misinformation
I would piss myself for sure . . . Then I'd quit. There's no excuse for this.
I worked in an Ice Cream plant our guys could only stay in the freezer 20min.
Yeah, you finally get home, pry off your shoes, peel of your socks, and your feet look like two slabs of raw meat.
I worked Receive, I was continually getting Verbal Warnings and what have you for being a "low performer". So I decided to keep a running tally of how many items I did per hour, and add it all up at the end of my shift. My numbers and their numbers would never match up. Never. Initially I thought I'd got my figures wrong, but I asked my mother (who worked in an accounts office before she married my dad) to double check for me, and I was right - my numbers were consistently higher than the "official" Amazon ones.
Pauline Bennet, many people have told you this and I will tell you this too, please f**k off with the unhelpful and unrealistic comments. This entire post has been full of your s**t spewing comments as you desperately try to garner attention to yourself by pretending to be a saviour of the people who would have beaten up Jeff Bezos and shoved Amazon parcels down his throat, when we all know you're just a sad f**k sitting behind your keyboard trying to get someone to accept and look up to you. From all the people who have had the unfortunate experience of reading all your comments, we request that you go through this entire post and remove your comments immediately.
@Pauline Bennet: I kind of hope that someone will report your comment to the FBI for instigating a terrorist act. You've written a load of thoughtless, tasteless comments here, but this one can land you in real trouble.
Every time there's a new intake of temps, five don't come back after morning break, another half a dozen don't come back after lunch, and of the remainder a further ten or a dozen don't come back for their next shift.
I honestly do not know how Amazon is managing to run a business in the UK. We do have laws, although we lost a lot through a certain woman PM, this is not allowed in Britain.
If there's a two man job they think they can get away with just putting one guy on it, they'll do it in a heartbeat.
Frankly, much of this is owed to non-existing labour laws in the US. Working at Amazon in the EU is much different, although still probably not the most fulfilling job. Yes, you always can do better than the baseline as a company, but instead of complaining people ought to do something. Start a union, protest, vote for the right party.
I was just thinking how it is to work for Amazon in Germany and the UK 🤔 And they want to start up Amazon in Sweden too. It would be illegal in multiple ways to force people to work under these conditions in the EU.
In the UK it's similar as in the US, as Thatcher got rid of sensible labour laws. They can employ you with zero hours in you contract and then call you whenever they need you. If you don't do what they want, the just won't call you and you'll get no money. You're basicly a day-taler by contract.
The global economy is being upended by tech. Everybody hates my comment but it's the truth. Any warehouse worker had better realize tg at the tech to compltely replace them has been around for over a decade and are at the point where a 35,000 salary costs more without benefits than the robots.
So keep up with the $15 minimum and see what job you have left.
Unions and worker’s rights might help with many of these problems.
That's what I do for a living. Deny all you want, or do a little research. Andrew Yang talked about the issue.
Yep and sooner or later the machines will make the machines, program the machines, maintain the machines... and people won't be needed at all. Congratulations. We have the future as depicted by James Cameron. Terminator...18c664.jpg
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Help move those jobs to machi nes
Strangely we have unions and worker‘s right in Europe and the jobs are still done by people.
See, that's what generations of employer's propaganda has done to you.
Employer's do not care about the people they employ. They pretend they do; they give you that illusion. But they don't. They really don't.
That kind of generalization doesn't get us anywhere. My employer is a really nice guy whom I know personally and I'd even go as far as considering him a friend. He clearly cares about me and the other people that work for him. Let's call out the Bezos of this world for the damage they do without weakening our arguments by ridiculous generalizations.
Hi Kesam, you are right and I apologise for making such a generalization. I was referring more specifically to large corporations, where you do not personally know your employer.
@Steve Barnett thank you for your replies, I get your point.👍And I'm sorry you had such a bad experience, that really sucks.
One example is my last job. I was forced to quit when I lost my rag and swore at a colleague, I didn’t mean to, I meant to reel it in. However, there were a chain of events leading to that moment. There’s no need to go into details but I was coping with some serious health problems for the previous six months, which my manager was aware of. I texted my colleague later in the day to apologise and he was okay with it, however another manager overheard what happened at the time and decided to make a formal complaint. Again, without going into more details which would be tedious, office politics was coming into play. I was informed that my conduct could be construed as being gross misconduct, which would then lead to immediate dismal. Because I didn’t want to have this on my work record, I resigned immediately. Now this is a job I held for 17 years and I was exceptional at it, sorry, I’m not bragging; others in my team were expert in certain aspects of our job, I was pretty (1/2)
Hi Kesam, sorry I'll shut up after this, but It's good to know that you have a good friend in your employer.
much skilled up in all aspects. There was no effort made to stop me from resigning. The thing is, it seems that the further up the echelon you go, the more devious the person gets; they are always making sure that their backs are covered: The lower you are on the ladder, the more dispensable you are. (2/2)
At the end of the day, though, nice guy or no, dude’s hands are still tied to his feet.
Kate what
Hi Kesam, sorry for reneging on my previous comment about shutting up, but I have to thank you for your kind reply. Yours s.
Sorry, I had to split my comment, therefore the second part might be above the first part.
Frankly, much of this is owed to non-existing labour laws in the US. Working at Amazon in the EU is much different, although still probably not the most fulfilling job. Yes, you always can do better than the baseline as a company, but instead of complaining people ought to do something. Start a union, protest, vote for the right party.
I was just thinking how it is to work for Amazon in Germany and the UK 🤔 And they want to start up Amazon in Sweden too. It would be illegal in multiple ways to force people to work under these conditions in the EU.
In the UK it's similar as in the US, as Thatcher got rid of sensible labour laws. They can employ you with zero hours in you contract and then call you whenever they need you. If you don't do what they want, the just won't call you and you'll get no money. You're basicly a day-taler by contract.
The global economy is being upended by tech. Everybody hates my comment but it's the truth. Any warehouse worker had better realize tg at the tech to compltely replace them has been around for over a decade and are at the point where a 35,000 salary costs more without benefits than the robots.
So keep up with the $15 minimum and see what job you have left.
Unions and worker’s rights might help with many of these problems.
That's what I do for a living. Deny all you want, or do a little research. Andrew Yang talked about the issue.
Yep and sooner or later the machines will make the machines, program the machines, maintain the machines... and people won't be needed at all. Congratulations. We have the future as depicted by James Cameron. Terminator...18c664.jpg
This comment is hidden. Click here to view.
Help move those jobs to machi nes
Strangely we have unions and worker‘s right in Europe and the jobs are still done by people.
See, that's what generations of employer's propaganda has done to you.
Employer's do not care about the people they employ. They pretend they do; they give you that illusion. But they don't. They really don't.
That kind of generalization doesn't get us anywhere. My employer is a really nice guy whom I know personally and I'd even go as far as considering him a friend. He clearly cares about me and the other people that work for him. Let's call out the Bezos of this world for the damage they do without weakening our arguments by ridiculous generalizations.
Hi Kesam, you are right and I apologise for making such a generalization. I was referring more specifically to large corporations, where you do not personally know your employer.
@Steve Barnett thank you for your replies, I get your point.👍And I'm sorry you had such a bad experience, that really sucks.
One example is my last job. I was forced to quit when I lost my rag and swore at a colleague, I didn’t mean to, I meant to reel it in. However, there were a chain of events leading to that moment. There’s no need to go into details but I was coping with some serious health problems for the previous six months, which my manager was aware of. I texted my colleague later in the day to apologise and he was okay with it, however another manager overheard what happened at the time and decided to make a formal complaint. Again, without going into more details which would be tedious, office politics was coming into play. I was informed that my conduct could be construed as being gross misconduct, which would then lead to immediate dismal. Because I didn’t want to have this on my work record, I resigned immediately. Now this is a job I held for 17 years and I was exceptional at it, sorry, I’m not bragging; others in my team were expert in certain aspects of our job, I was pretty (1/2)
Hi Kesam, sorry I'll shut up after this, but It's good to know that you have a good friend in your employer.
much skilled up in all aspects. There was no effort made to stop me from resigning. The thing is, it seems that the further up the echelon you go, the more devious the person gets; they are always making sure that their backs are covered: The lower you are on the ladder, the more dispensable you are. (2/2)
At the end of the day, though, nice guy or no, dude’s hands are still tied to his feet.
Kate what
Hi Kesam, sorry for reneging on my previous comment about shutting up, but I have to thank you for your kind reply. Yours s.
Sorry, I had to split my comment, therefore the second part might be above the first part.