4. Amazon Are Terrible Employers
When confronted about their tax avoidance, Amazon suggested that the amount of people they employ in the UK surely more than makes up for the fact that they're taking the proverbial? And, yes, in terms of
numbers, the employment they've created is to be applauded. But people are so much more than mere numbers. They're people. They have needs and a basic level of dignity that must be respected at all times lest your company come across as scary and exploitative. A recent Financial Times article
explored the working practices in an Amazon depot. At times the report reads like dystopian sci-fi. Workers must pass through full body scanners at the start and end of each shift. Their every movement is tracked via wrist-strapped computers that offer cold admonishments should it deem productivity levels to be slackening. Workers are required to walk up to 15 miles a day and don't appear to enjoy anything in the way of job security. There are reports of people getting fired having taken a sick day, and one man claims to have shown up for work only to find that his job no longer existed. Then there's the scary, inhuman business speak which would sound like an Orwellian cliché if it appeared in a book or film. Every morning workers are greeted by a grinning cardboard woman who says, via speech bubble, that this is the best job I have ever had! Managers are mobile problem solvers, whilst the warehouse is referred to as a fulfilment centre. Oh, and workers are never fired. They're released - like they couldn't make the job sound any more like a prison. But for some reason, the thing that annoyed me the most is that, such is the short length of the break and the complicated tedium of checking in and out, the local cafés don't even enjoy a boost in sales. That singularly disproves any notion that an Amazon fulfilment centre has a positive impact on the local economy. Alright, alright. I appreciate that every company that uses a warehouse or a distribution centre probably operates in a similar way to Amazon. But bear in mind that these insecure human-as-robot jobs are Amazon's
sole justification for not paying taxes in the UK. Also bear in mind that they receive 35 orders a second. They're operating on an alarmingly grand scale. I shut down my Amazon account not because I believed that my action would suddenly improve the working conditions for Amazon's employees, but because I couldn't stand the idea of adding to such a demanding workload in what sounds like a genuinely hellish place to work every time I order a CD with free supersaver delivery. It will change nothing, but think of it as an act of not in my name.