Amazon India Slammed Over Harsh Working Conditions, Stringent Productivity Demands

 Amazon is one of the most popular e-commerce companies worldwide. The company specialises in online shopping, cloud services, streaming media, artificial intelligence, and streaming media. Recently, Amazon India is facing challenges as the company is slammed over harsh working conditions and stringent productivity demands from the workers at its warehouses in Haryana’s Manesar.

Complaints raised by Amazon India workers

Recently, a 24-year-old Amazon worker told The Indian Express that the workers in Amazon warehouses are asked daily to pledge not to take intervals, even for toilets or drinking water, until they achieve their specific targets. These tasks include unloading packages from huge trucks, which is a physically demanding task in the scorching heat with a temperature of up to 50 degrees Celsius. One of the workers whose monthly salary is Rs. 10,088 has to work over five days a week for over ten hours.

This also highlighted the pressure of working without proper rest breaks. Reflecting the impracticality of the tasks imposed, the worker said, “Even if we work without taking a break, we struggle to unload more than four trucks a day. The situation is more difficult for the female workers, who daily face challenges at the warehouses due to a lack of proper facilities and the physical demands of the job. According to the reports, some departments lack proper restrooms, unsanitary solutions, and are forcing employees to use makeshift.

Amazon India’s response to the allegations

In response to the workers’ allegations, the spokesperson of Amazon India stated that the company gives priority to the safety and well-being of its employees seriously. The company also mentioned the presence and usage of heat index monitoring devices and cooling measures in their facilities, highlighting that employees are provided with adequate water, rest opportunities, and hydration breaks.

The issue isn’t confined to India alone. Amazon has faced similar allegations internationally too.

Not only in India, but Amazon has faced similar allegations worldwide too. The authorities in the US noted safety violations and ergonomic hazards in several warehouses.Earlier this year in the US, Amazon fired a warehouse worker after the person posted a video on social media depicting him picking up heavy boxes.

In Seattle, three female marketing managers also complained about Amazon’s sex discrimination, which the company retaliated against, including firing one of them and forcing the other one to quit. In March 2023, The Guardian published a report revealing that the regulatory agency in the US—Occupational Safety and Health Administration—issued citations against six warehouses of Amazon for ergonomic hazards, unsafe conditions, and not properly reporting injuries. In 2021, as per the reports, warehouses of Amazon had a rate of 7.7 injuries per 100 workers. Amazon’s serious injury rate was 6.8 per 100 workers.