Leaked Memo Reveals Amazon Knows Deliverers Will Resort to Urinating in Bottles | Technology

Amazon caused a stir on Thursday when it denied reports that its delivery drivers were forced to pee in bottles due to lack of access to bathrooms, but a leaked internal memo shows that the company has been aware of the problem for at least several months.

Documents provided to the interception by employees at Amazon showed that an email sent in May 2020 admonished employees to urinate bottles and defecate while on the job.

“Tonight, an employee discovered human feces in a bag from Amazon that had been returned to the station by a driver,” the email reads. “This is the third time in the past 2 months that bags with poo in them have been returned to the station. We understand that DAs [driver associates] can have emergencies while on the road, and especially during Covid, DAs have a hard time finding a bathroom during delivery. “

Employees told the intercept that the problem was often mentioned in internal discussions, with a former Amazon employee telling the publication that drivers are “implicitly forced to do this, or we’ll lose our job for too many ‘undelivered packages.'”

The revelation followed a belligerent tweet from Amazon targeting a congressman in Wisconsin who scrutinized the company about working conditions. The saga unfolded amid a showdown with Alabama workers trying to unify the workplace.

It is not the first time that employees at Amazon, which is known for its grueling hours, have spoken out about the problem. Workers have previously told the Guardian to pee in water bottles daily for fear of missing delivery rates. A forum on Reddit dedicated to Amazon drivers, which, while impossible to fully verify for authenticity, still features hundreds of comments from drivers who claim they often have to pee in water bottles due to a lack of bathroom breaks during work, especially as the Covid – 19 pandemic increased the number of deliveries. Amazon saw a 37% increase in sales in a quarter alone in 2020, and executive Jeff Bezos personally saw his personal net worth increase by $ 70 billion during the pandemic.

The bathroom controversy that came to light on Thursday only marks the latest backlash over how Amazon is dealing with employees – and its delivery drivers in particular. Earlier this week, Vice reported Drivers were forced to sign “biometric consent” forms to continue working for the retail giant.

With these forms, AI-powered cameras would be able to monitor the drivers, who are around 75,000 in the United States, while on the clock. Evan Greer, the deputy director of the human rights organization Fight for the Future, said lawmakers should ban biometric surveillance completely because workers trying to survive in precarious times cannot reasonably be expected to reject the policy if it means that they lose a job. .

“Forcing employees to agree to constant monitoring by racist, AI surveillance or getting fired is not how consent works,” she said. “Lawmakers should take action now to ban these practices completely. No one should be forced to work in inhumane conditions and hand over their sensitive biometric information to their boss just to put food on the table. “

Amazon did not respond to the request for comment.