As I have stated before:
As part of their obligation to pursue stewardship, businesses and corporations must treat their workers with basic human dignity within the workplace. Workers cannot be treated as just simply another ?cost of production,? rather they are persons made in the image of God worthy of decent and honest treatment.
Many argue we no longer need worker protections in the workplace; just let the market handle it.
We need our lawmakers to not have tunnel vision and bend exclusively to the demands of business and the economy.
In a behind-the-scenes look at modern conditions at one Amazon warehouse, evidence remains that corporations continue to abuse their workers and show the need for the government to pursue justice within the workplace:
Workers said they were forced to endure brutal heat inside the sprawling warehouse and were pushed to work at a pace many could not sustain. Employees were frequently reprimanded regarding their productivity and threatened with termination, workers said. The consequences of not meeting work expectations were regularly on display, as employees lost their jobs and got escorted out of the warehouse. Such sights encouraged some workers to conceal pain and push through injury lest they get fired as well, workers said.
During summer heat waves, Amazon arranged to have paramedics parked in ambulances outside, ready to treat any workers who dehydrated or suffered other forms of heat stress. Those who couldn?t quickly cool off and return to work were sent home or taken out in stretchers and wheelchairs and transported to area hospitals. And new applicants were ready to begin work at any time.
The unequal bargaining position is compounded in today?s depression.
In a better economy, not as many people would line up for jobs that pay $11 or $12 an hour moving inventory through a hot warehouse. But with job openings scarce, Amazon and Integrity Staffing Solutions, the temporary employment firm that is hiring workers for Amazon, have found eager applicants in the swollen ranks of the unemployed. . .
The situation highlights how companies like Amazon can wield their significant leverage over workers in the bleak job market, labor experts say. Large companies such as Amazon can minimize costs for benefits and raises by relying on temporary workers rather than having a larger permanent workforce, those experts say.
?They can get away with it because most workers will take whatever they can get with jobs few and far between,? said Catherine Ruckelshaus, legal co-director of the National Employment Law Project, an advocacy group for low-wage workers. ?The temp worker is less likely to complain about it and less likely to push for their labor rights because they feel like they don?t have much pull or sway with the worksite employer.?
Again, corporations merely see their workers as an expense.
The supply of temporary workers keeps Amazon?s warehouse fully staffed without the expense of a permanent workforce that expects raises and good benefits. Using temporary employees in general also helps reduce the prospect that employees will organize a union that pushes for better treatment because the employees are in constant flux, labor experts say. And Amazon limits its liability for workers? compensation and unemployment insurance because most of the workers don?t work for Amazon, they work for the temp agency.
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