Are there 3rd world sweatshops that pay $16 USD/hour and provide benefits? I'd wager there are a few more differences than just the robots.
If you read the article with the example that was asked for, you'd see the examples of how it's sweatshop conditions.
Long shifts on your feet, physical labor, short breaks and no cell phones. Precise tracking of performance. Does it sound like fun? Hell no. But it seems like decent pay for unskilled physical labor, and I haven't read anything that sounds like sweatshop conditions.
If she told you there were sharks with lasers on their heads would you have believed that too? The article is literally unbelievable.
>"I was really upset and I said, 'All you people care about is the rates, not the well-being of the people,' " she said. "I've never worked for an employer that had paramedics waiting outside for people to drop because of the extreme heat."
There were so many reports of workers overheating that OSHA had to get involved: https://www.mcall.com/news/watchdog/mc-allentown-amazon-comp...
That, along with other conditions reported, make it a literal sweatshop.
They risk bringing the coronavirus home every day to their families. Their bodies are chewed up over the course of months until they start falling apart from the stress and wear. "short breaks" usually means something like "you're only allowed to go to the bathroom twice" which is technically illegal but Amazon spent a lot of money asking consultants and lawyers how to circumvent that.
Not to mention they don't get paid while they're standing in line for 20+ minutes to get frisked before they leave.
- No chairs for a 12-hour shift
- Time spent going to the bathroom gets removed from your break time
- 30-minute lunch includes a 30-minute round trip to get to the lunch room
Other things seemed like unrealistic exaggerations. Like a 15 minute walk to the lunch room and barely having enough time to eat a sandwich, drink a soda and smoke a cigarette during the 30 minute break. Doesn’t add up.
And stating it felt like 150 degrees and no fans were allowed because “robots don’t like the cold”. What robot works better in 150 degrees than 70 degrees?
The stories don’t ring true to me and the pictures through the article from labor organizers tell me at least why the stories are being told.