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Amazon should not risk the health and safety of its employees to respond to Black Friday purchase requests, Amnesty International warned on Thursday, accusing the online sales giant of cracking down on employees’ right to demand better terms and conditions. job.
In a report (PDF) titled “Amazon, Let Workers Unionize!” The human rights group said Amazon has undermined workers’ attempts to organize and bargain collectively.
The company engaged in “surveillance in the United States and threats of legal action in the United Kingdom” and “failed to engage on critical health and safety issues in Poland and France Amnesty said in a statement accompanying the report.
“As Amazon approaches the busiest time of the year with Black Friday and Christmas, we urge the company to respect the human rights of its workers and to comply with international labor standards,” said Barbora Cernusakova, an Amnesty researcher.
“Amazon must refrain from violating the privacy rights of its workers and stop treating union activity as a threat.”
The rights group also accused Amazon of restoring productivity targets ahead of the busy Christmas sales season.
Those benchmarks were suspended in March after an Amazon warehouse worker accused the company of not doing enough to protect its employees from the potential spread of COVID-19 at work.
An employee of an Amazon fulfillment center on the outskirts of Bengaluru, India, in September 2018 [File: Abhishek N Chinnappa/Reuters]
Amazon said record profits during the pandemic, becoming a trillion dollar business, with people choosing to shop online over going to stores in person.
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, the richest person in the world, also became the first to amass over $ 200 billion in personal wealth.
“Throughout the pandemic, Amazon workers have risked their health and their lives to ensure essential goods are delivered to our doors, helping Amazon to achieve record profits,” Cernusakova said.
“Against this background, it is alarming that Amazon has treated union organizing attempts with such hostility – as one of the most powerful companies in the world, it should know.”
Black Friday Goals
Held the day after Thanksgiving in the United States, Black Friday is one of the biggest selling days for American retailers each year. It posted a record $ 7.2 billion digital revenue in the United States in 2019 alone, according to Forbes.
Other countries have adopted the tradition of competing with American retailers, especially as sales have moved online.
Amnesty International said in its report that at the start of the second wave of the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon informed workers in several countries that “productivity targets” for shipping products would resume ahead of the busy shopping season. .
“Workers in the UK reported receiving a text message saying that ‘From October 21 we will resume measuring and providing feedback on productivity performance to ensure we are ready to deliver to customers in the coming weeks, ”the report said.
Amazon did not immediately respond to Al Jazeera’s request for comment on Thursday.
The company’s website said Amazon recognizes its responsibility “to respect and uphold internationally recognized human rights through the ethical treatment of our staff.”
“Guided by the United Nations Guiding Principles on Business and Human Rights, we are committed to mainstreaming respect for human rights into all of our activities,” he said.
Holiday bonus
In a blog post Thursday, Dave Clark, senior vice president of global operations at Amazon, announced that the company would give $ 500 million in vacation bonuses to its frontline employees.
Full-time workers in the United States employed from Dec. 1 to 31 will be entitled to a bonus of $ 300, while part-time American workers will be entitled to $ 150, Clark said.
An employee scans packages at Amazon’s JFK8 fulfillment center in Staten Island, New York, November 25 [Brendan McDermid/Reuters]
“In combination with other vacation bonuses, this quarter alone we are investing over $ 750 million in additional compensation for our hourly frontline workforce, on top of our national minimum wage. of $ 15, industry leader, ”he said.
But Amnesty International said in its report that “the company’s behavior portrays a corporate culture opposed to the right of workers to join unions and organize collectively.”
Activists also released a new set of demands for Amazon this week, including pressure for pay increases.
Warehouse workers, climate activists, and others have launched the Make Amazon Pay (MAP) campaign to lobby for Amazon employees to have breaks and job security, as well as more. actions to fight against climate change, among others.
“The pandemic has revealed how Amazon puts profits before workers, society and our planet. Amazon takes too much and gives too little, ”the group said on its website.
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