Amazon’s drivers compelled urinate in bottles due to work pressure. Image Courtesy – Yahoo News
There is no time to breathe under tremendous work pressure all day. There is no time to take a break. But, the human body is not a machine; it is bound with some biological systems. Employees of the popular e-commerce company Amazon do not find the right time to respond to the call of nature. Due to Amazon’s work pressure, they use to urinate in bottles when needed. The news started coming into the focus.
Although Amazon employees initially denied the allegations, they later admitted that it was not a fabricated or false allegation. Many employees of this famous e-commerce company were really forced to urinate in bottles.
British journalist James Bloodworth recently brought the explosive allegation against the workers in a book about Amazon. He even said on Twitter that while working at Amazon, he himself was forced to urinate in a bottle due to lack of time under work pressure. A brawl started on the wall of social media in his speech.
Initially, the claim was dismissed by Amazon authorities. But a storm of controversy swept across social media. The workers started opening their mouths one by one. Amazon authorities finally retreated. The organization apologized first with a statement in this context by saying, “Our staffs often have to deal with situations where they do not have access to the toilet.” The US e-commerce company claims that the problem was mainly due to traffic or drivers in rural areas. They also explain that toilets were closed in many places during the Coronavirus pandemic. The tendency to urinate in the bottle increased at that time.
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After this confession, the noise started as usual. Amazon authority said in a statement that they wanted to resolve this issue quickly. But they could not rule out the controversy. The question already has arisen about the dignity of the people working in the company and maintaining the labour law. It was a natural phenomenon of a human being to make an enquiry that whether Amazon is properly maintaining the labour law or not?
Bernie Sanders supported the unionization drive of the Amazon workers at Bessemer and Alabama. Amazon executive Dave Clark taunted him pointing to the benefits Amazon is offering to their employees like ‘$15/hour and good healthcare’. Mark Pocan, an American politician replied in a tweet, “Paying workers $15/hour does not make you a progressive workplace when you union-bust & make workers urinate in water bottles”. Reports of 2018 revealed that Amazon workers were forced to skip toilet breaks and compelled to urinate in bottles.
Whether to unionize or not? It has become a moment of truth for organized labour at Amazon. Amazon criticized Bernie Sanders, the United States Senator and politician that he was far from the only prominent politician to provide voice support for the employees’ right to form a union. President Joe Biden released a video statement that said, “Every worker should have a free and fair choice to join a union which should be made without intimidation or threats by employers”.
