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Home / Business / Economy / Employment

Amazon workers sleep in tents near site

Daily Mail
11 Dec, 2016 01:17 AM4 mins to read

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Parcels are processed and prepared for dispatch at a Amazon fulfillment centre. Photo / Getty

Parcels are processed and prepared for dispatch at a Amazon fulfillment centre. Photo / Getty

Hard-pressed workers at Amazon are believed to have resorted to sleeping in tents so they can make it to work.

At least three have been spotted in woodland beside the online retail giant's base in recent days, sparking concerns about the depths some employees are apparently plumbing to hold down a job.

One worker, who did not wish to be named, was reluctant to speak but did describe the firm as a "poor employer" and criticised working practices at the Fife site, according to The Courier.

He added that he had opted to stay in a tent as it was easier and cheaper than commuting from his home in Perth, although his camping equipment had disappeared by Friday afternoon.

Amazon employs around 1,500 staff on a permanent basis at its fulfilment centre in Dunfermline, Fife, but has created 4,000 seasonal jobs to help cover the busy Christmas and New Year period.

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Another tent appears to have been abandoned, with rubbish, discarded sleeping bags and cans of cider among the items strewn around nearby.

The company came under fire last month from local activists who claimed that agency workers are working up to 60 hours per week for little more than the minimum wage and are harshly treated.

Amazon dismissed those allegations and said it values its employees, maintaining a "culture of direct dialogue" with them.

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However, the news that some of its staff have taken to roughing it on bitterly cold winter nights has prompted renewed questions about employee welfare.

Scottish Liberal Democrat leader Willie Rennie MSP, who has repeatedly called for the firm to improve its working conditions and its tax record, once more criticised Amazon after learning that some workers had apparently taken to staying in the woods.

"Amazon should be ashamed that they pay their workers so little that they have to camp out in the dead of winter to make ends meet," he said.

"Amazon need to take a long, hard look at themselves and change their ways.

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Amazon accused of abuse and exploitation

14 Dec 05:42 AM

"They pay a small amount of tax and received millions of the pounds from the SNP Government so the least they should do is pay the proper living wage.

"The fares the company charge for transport swallow up a lot of the weekly wage which is forcing people to seek ever more desperate ways of making work pay."

Earlier this year, Mr Rennie demanded that the multinational company receives no more public cash until they could guarantee higher wages for workers, amid suggestions that some staff were paid well below the current living wage of £8.45 (NZ$14.89) an hour.

A spokesman for Amazon said: "Amazon provides a safe and positive workplace.

"The safety and wellbeing of our permanent and temporary associates is our number one priority.

"We are also proud to have been able to create several thousand new permanent roles in our UK fulfilment centres over the last five years.

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"We pay competitive wages - all permanent and temporary Amazon associates start on £7.35 an hour or above regardless of age and £11 an hour and above for overtime."

The company recently came under fire for their "dehumanising" working practises, revealed in an undercover investigation by The Mail on Sunday.

Employees were reportedly allowed mere seconds to find items and face disciplinary action if they failed.

They also were reprimanded for "too long" bathroom breaks - and drivers barely found the time for toilet stops at all.

These allegations come in the wake of recent reports that Amazon workers were denied proper bathroom breaks due to the harrowing demands of the holiday season - forcing them to relieve themselves in whatever means possible.

Van drivers were under such pressure to make deliveries on time that they used bottles or plastic bags in lieu of a loo, an investigation by the BBC revealed.

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A reporter got a job with AHC Services, one of the firms that provides drivers for Amazon in southern England.

For two weeks, the investigator was based at the Amazon depot in Avonmouth, Bristol, and said drivers told him they were expected to deliver as many as 200 parcels a day, for which they were paid £110.

The drivers also admitted to having to "defecate in bags" and "urinate in bottles" because they did not have enough time for toilet breaks.

The investigation also claimed that Amazon delivery drivers are having to speed in order to fit in all the firm's deliveries on time.

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