Amazon warehouse workers in Europe protest on Black Friday, calling working conditions "inhumane & # 39;
- UK-based trade union GMB organizes a protest against Amazon on Black Friday to oppose what it calls "inhumane" working conditions for Amazon warehouse workers.
- Amazon has denied it abuse workers and says it has created 25,000 wealthy paid jobs in the UK
- GMB bases its demands on a liberty information that showed that ambulances had been called to Amazon warehouses 600 times over three years.
On the biggest action day of the year, the British Trade Association GMB organized a protest against Amazon AMZN for what it calls "inhumane" conditions for warehouse workers.
Amazon has recently been under a microscope as it gets ready to bring 25,000 jobs to each of two new "headquarters" locations in New York and Arlington, Virginia. Since the announcement earlier this month, politicians and residents in these areas have questioned the benefit Amazon will bring to their cities, as the influx of new workers will likely lead to a burden on infrastructure and spike housing prices.
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GMB bases its allegations in part on a report that ambulances were called Amazon stores 600 times in the past three years in May, an information request filed by the association revealed. Of the conversations, 115 were for a single facility in Rugeley with 1800 to 2000 workers, Guardian reported. It compares to eight ambulance calls to a nearby Tesco plant with a similar physical size of around 1300 workers, according to Guardian.
In a statement, Amazon said: "Our European fulfillment system is fully operational and we continue to focus on delivering to our customers. Any reports of the opposite are simply wrong."
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In a separate statement Amazon noted that it has created 25,000 paying jobs in the UK and processed claims about unsafe working conditions.
"All of our sites are safe places to work and reports about the opposite are simply wrong," said Amazon. "According to the UK government's health and safety director, Amazon has 40% fewer injuries on average than other shipping and warehousing companies in the UK. We encourage everyone to compare our pay, benefits, and working relationships with others and see you on a of the public tours we offer every day at our centers across the UK, uk.amazonfctours.com. "
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GMB said in a press release that it expects hundreds to attend the protests at five Amazon warehouses in the UK and that workers In Italy and Spain, too, will "act." CNBC could not independently confirm how many people participated in the protests.
"The terms of our members in the Amazon work below are honestly inhuman," said Secretary General Tim Roache in the press release. "They break bones, get banked unconscious and taken away in ambulances. We stand up and say enough, people are making Amazon's money. People with children, homes, bills to pay – they're not robots."
<p class = "canvas-atom canvas text Mb (1.0em) Mb (0) – sm Mt (0.8em) – sm" type = "text" content = "GMB did not respond immediately
-CNBCs Deirdre Bosa and Elizabeth Schulze contributed to this report. "data-reactid =" 32 "> GMB did not respond immediately to CNBC's request for comments.
-CNBCs Deirdre Bosa and Elizabeth Schulze contributed to this report.
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