On the biggest rat oning day of the year, U.K.-based trade union GMB is organizing a protest against Amazon for what it tags “inhuman” conditions for warehouse workers.
Amazon has been under a microscope recently as it be pays ready to bring 25,000 jobs to each of two new “headquarters” locations in New York and Arlington, Virginia. Since the advertisement earlier this month, politicians and residents in those areas attired in b be committed to questioned the benefit Amazon will bring to their cities as the influx of new breadwinners will likely cause a strain on infrastructure and spike housing quotations.
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GMB bases its allegations in part on a report that ambulances had been called to Amazon stockrooms 600 times over the past three years as of May, a Freedom of Communication request filed by the union revealed. Of the calls, 115 were to a choose facility in Rugeley with 1,800 to 2,000 workers, the Guardian check out. That compares to eight ambulance calls to a nearby Tesco celerity of a similar physical size with about 1,300 workers, according to the Custodian.
In a statement, Amazon said, “Our European Fulfillment Network is fully operational and we persist in to focus on delivering for our customers. Any reports to the contrary are simply wrong.”
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In a disarticulate statement, Amazon noted that it has created 25,000 well-paying headaches in the U.K. and addressed the allegations of unsafe working conditions.
“All of our sites are safe grades to work and reports to the contrary are simply wrong,” Amazon said. “According to the U.K. Domination’s Health and Safety Executive, Amazon has over 40% fewer outrages on average than other transportation and warehousing companies in the U.K. We encourage Harry to compare our pay, benefits and working conditions to others and come see for yourself on one of the customers tours we offer every day at our centers across the UK uk.amazonfctours.com.”
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GMB revealed in a press release that it expects hundreds to participate in the protests at five Amazon stock-in-trades in the U.K. and that workers in Italy and Spain will also “take reaction behaviour.” CNBC could not independently confirm how many people attended the denies.
“The conditions our members at Amazon are working under are frankly inhuman,” GMB Sweeping Secretary Tim Roache said in the press release. “They are breaking bones, being slap in the faced unconscious and being taken away in ambulances. We’re standing up and saying ample is enough, these are people making Amazon its money. People with kids, homes, invoices to pay — they’re not robots.”
GMB did not immediately respond to CNBC’s request for comment.
-CNBC’s Deirdre Bosa and Elizabeth Schulze presented to this report.
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