E-commerce giant Amazon recently denied that some workers at its warehouses were forced to “urinated in water bottles,” and promptly received an overwhelming amount of evidence in response.
The Verge reports that e-commerce giant Amazon how begun a new tactic in its PR battle against stories of its extreme workplace conditions, now just outright denying many previously documented issues.
In a reply to a tweet from Rep. Mark Pocan (D-WI) who complained about the firm’s union-busting tactics and that some of its workers were forced to “urinate in water bottles,” Amazon’s Twitter account responded: “You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us.”
1/2 You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do, and have great wages and health care from day one.
— Amazon News (@amazonnews) March 25, 2021
However, there are multiple accounts of this exact situation taking place, with evidence from employees and journalists to back it up. After Amazon posted its tweet, English journalist James Bloodworth, who documented Amazon’s workplace conditions in his 2018 book Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain, replied to the tweet claiming Amazon was lying:
I was the person who found the pee in the bottle. Trust me, it happened. https://t.co/U76UlDRWSO
— James Bloodworth (@J_Bloodworth) March 25, 2021
Will Evans from The Center of Investigative Reporting also took issue with Amazon:
Peeing at Amazon – or not being able to – is an actual thing. Here's what workers told me. https://t.co/D0lp4pdQ5D https://t.co/eqFiS8WZbG pic.twitter.com/RVLOYezGvE
— Will Evans (@willCIR) March 25, 2021
Lauren Kaori Gurley of Vice News’ Motherboard shared an email she received from an Amazon driver detailing having to urinate in a coffee cup every day:
As a labor reporter who covers Amazon extensively…I can say Amazon delivery drivers not having a time or place to pee is one of the most universal concerns I hear about https://t.co/pG81MDf5TU pic.twitter.com/h3pGhOok1y
— Lauren Kaori Gurley (@LaurenKGurley) March 25, 2021
Ken Bensinger of BuzzFeed News shared photos of an Amazon contractors truck driver policy which specifically mentions “urine bottles.”
Amazon claims its workers don't pee in bottles; defenders say it's an urban legend. But these photos sent to me by a former driver for a former @amazon contractor called Synctruck in a California facility suggest strongly otherwise. https://t.co/hp4zCqOxRO pic.twitter.com/StHNvV9B1x
— Ken Bensinger (@kenbensinger) March 25, 2021
And in a more serious issue, Alex Press of Jacobin shared an anecdote from an Amazon employee who alleged that one of their coworkers had a seizure during work:
my first response to this was to laugh because it’s such a ridiculous tweet but honestly, this is infuriating. here are the type of texts Amazon workers send me https://t.co/7hW5miBob8 pic.twitter.com/bENxlqzsPa
— Alex Press (@alexnpress) March 25, 2021
Breitbart News reported on the infamous “urinating in bottles” incidents at Amazon warehouses as far back as 2018. Since the coronavirus pandemic, Amazon warehouse workers have also complained about working conditions since the beginning of the pandemic.
Read more about Amazon warehouse working conditions at Breitbart News here.
Lucas Nolan is a reporter for Breitbart News covering issues of free speech and online censorship. Follow him on Twitter @LucasNolan or contact via secure email at the address lucasnolan@protonmail.com
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