Amazon India has finally responded to allegations that its warehouse workers in Manesar, Haryana, are being forced to take oath that they won't take toilet or water breaks until targets are met.
The allegedly harsh working conditions in Amazon warehouse came to light after one of the staffers spoke to The Indian Express. The 24-year-old told the outlet that they are being asked to take oath that they will not take any breaks until their targets are achieved.
The target given the workers in the Manesar warehouse is to unload six trucks. With the temperature soaring amid severe heatwave conditions, doing the physical task without drinking water or taking rest is impractical, said the staffer. The worker, who earns Rs 10,088 monthly for 10-hour shift over five days, said they are struggling to unload more than four trucks a day. “The trucks are hot from being parked outside, and when they unload articles, they get exhausted quickly,” the worker added.
Another staffer, a woman, pointed out that the warehouse does not have a washroom on the premises. “If we are unwell, the only option is to go to the washroom or locker room. There is a sick room with a bed, but workers are asked to leave after 10 minutes. I stand for nine hours a day, and am supposed to go through 60 small products or 40 medium-sized products every hour,” she said.
Responding to the allegations, an Amazon India representative said, “We’re investigating these claims, but to be clear, we’d never make these kinds of requests on our employees as part of standard business practice. If we discovered an incident such as the one that’s been alleged, we’d immediately put a stop to it and ensure the manager involved was re-trained on our expectations of team support, health, and safety. We’ll continue to investigate.”
“All our buildings have heat index monitoring devices and we constantly monitor changes in temperature, especially during summer months. Employees are free to take informal breaks throughout their shifts to use the restroom, get water, or talk to a manager or HR," the representative added.
