Amazon.com, Inc.
Amazon.com, Inc.[1] is an American multinational technology company based in Seattle, Washington, which focuses on e-commerce, cloud computing, digital streaming, and artificial intelligence. It was founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos.
Controversies
Treatment of workers
Amazon workers report that they have to pee in bottles as washroom breaks would have one lose their job for idling, as washrooms are far away. An anonymous worker answering a survey from Organize has said “From their point of view, we don’t have the right to be ill,” as Amazon doesn’t allow workers enough time for breaks or sick days, according to other workers. A worker even said “I do not drink water because I do not have time to go to the toilet.” because of increasing targets.[2] Amazon refutes these claims, saying “Amazon provides a safe and positive workplace for thousands of people… with competitive pay and benefits from day one. We have not been provided with confirmation that the people who completed the survey worked at Amazon and we don’t recognize these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings.”[3]
Climate
Amazon emitted 44.4 million tonnes of CO2 in 2018. Amazon has funded climate-denying think tanks like the Competitive Enterprise Institute, though in 2020 Jeff Bezos started to do climate-related philanthropy.[4]
COVID-19
A warehouse in Ontario, Canada was prompted to investigated by the Ontario Minister of Labour, after being shut down from hundreds of workers having contracted COVID-19. Inspectors had visited the warehouse 12 times in total, from March 1 of 2020 to March 10 of 2021 and issued 8 orders related to COVID-19 protocols. Since October of 2020, 617 workers at the facility had contracted COVID-19, according to the Peel Medical Officer of Health. An organizer, though, said that even after the shutdown the cramped conditions that led to the outbreak may remain unchanged.[5]
References
- ↑ https://secfilings.nasdaq.com/filingFrameset.asp?FilingID=13184158&RcvdDate=2/1/2019&CoName=AMAZON%20COM%20INC. NASDAQ. December 31, 2018. Retrieved March 15, 2021.
- ↑ Organize. (2018). Amazon: What’s it like where you work? Organize. Retrieved March 15, 2021, from https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5a3af3e22aeba594ad56d8cb/t/5ad098b3562fa7b8c90d5e1b/1523620020369/Amazon+Warehouse+Staff+Survey+Results.pdf
- ↑ Liao, S. (2018, April 16). Amazon warehouse workers skip bathroom breaks to keep their jobs, says report. The Verge. Retrieved December 14, 2020, from https://web.archive.org/web/20210315233316/https://www.theverge.com/2018/4/16/17243026/amazon-warehouse-jobs-worker-conditions-bathroom-breaks
- ↑ Weise, K. (2020, February 17). Jeff Bezos Commits $10 Billion to Address Climate Change. The New York Times. Retrieved March 15, 2021, from https://www.nytimes.com/2020/02/17/technology/jeff-bezos-climate-change-earth-fund.html
- ↑ Gray, J., & Andrew-Gee, E. (2021, March 15). Ontario Amazon facility investigated after outbreak. The Globe and Mail, 1.