Sweatshop Christmas: Amazon UK accused

By Steven Musil on 17 December 2008, 11:17am

Temporary workers at Amazon's UK distribution centres risk being sacked if they call in sick and are required to work seven days a week, according to a report published in The Sunday Times.

Employees reportedly get only two short breaks for an eight-hour shift and must request permission to use the toilet. The temporary employees hired to handle the seasonal increase in business earn £6.30 an hour, but must pay £8.50 a day to take a bus to the warehouse if they can't arrange their own transportation, the newspaper reported.

Employees are also penalised for not achieving what one manager called "ridiculous" packing quotas and are often required to walk up to 14 miles during the course of a shift to retrieve items for shipping, according to a Sunday Times reporter who went undercover at Amazon's Bedfordshire warehouse.

Amazon does not deny the report. Allan Lyall, vice president of European operations for Amazon, responded to the report in a statement printed with the story:

"Every single member of the Amazon.co.uk workforce... is currently working flat-out to ensure that our millions of customers receive the products that they have ordered on time this Christmas. Our number one focus is our customers and everyone at Amazon works hard on their behalf."

Apparently, it's also well known that being a holiday temp is the only way to get a full-time job with the company and that competition is fierce.

"Demand for permanent roles from our temporary employees is at such a high level that we no longer need to recruit externally for permanent positions," Lyall continued. "Indeed, we have already seen well over 100 temporary employees become permanent this year alone. During 2008, we have taken on over 4,000 temporary fulfilment centre associates in the UK and are benefiting from the lowest level of employees leaving the company that we have experienced over all our 11 Christmases."

Representatives for the company in the US did not immediately respond to requests for comment, but spokeswoman Patty Smith told the Seattle Press Intelligencer that there were "inaccuracies" in the Sunday Times report.

"Don't believe everything you read!" Smith said via email. "There were many inaccuracies in the UK article. Case in point: We don't allow FC (fulfilment centre) associates to work more than 6 days a week in any location -- they must have at least one day off."

The article implies that UK centres are bending this rule, however. According to the article, staff are "made to work a compulsory ten-and-a-half hour overnight shift at the end of a five-day week. The overnight shift, which runs from Saturday evening to 5am on Sunday, means they have to work every day of the week."