Physical distancing while working inside an Amazon warehouse can get tricky, especially since the company still tracks workers’ productivity during the pandemic.
The e-commerce giant has hired 1,000 new employees to boost its fulfillment centres and delivery network in Ontario, B.C. and Alberta.
Amazon workers in the Greater Toronto Area say the new hires, especially in the warehouses’ narrow aisles and locker rooms, are a big problem.
“If you want to hit your rate, you’re going to be bumping into people,” said one order picker at a GTA facility.
“Even if you’ve been distancing the whole day, if you go to your locker you’re in each other’s face the whole time because it’s a very small space,” the order picker said.
They were granted confidentiality by CBC because they say they fear losing their job for speaking out.
One Amazon worker granted anonymity by CBC said a $2 pay hike offered by Amazon at the start of the pandemic is ‘insulting.’ (Radio-Canada)
At least 2 cases in Canada
Amazon tells CBC it is staggering work shifts, frequently disinfecting its facilities, doing temperature checks and handing out masks to its employees every day.
“There’s still a lot of criss-crossing that’s happening, and now with more people, there’s even more,” another worker said.
So far, Amazon has reported two positive cases of COVID-19 at its Canadian sites.
It remains unclear whether employees were infected while on the job.
Gagandeep Kaur, organizer with the Warehouse Workers Centre, says hiring hundreds of workers during a pandemic goes against the physical distancing measures Amazon implemented.
“That just really defeats the purpose,” she said.
Her organization launched an online petition, asking Amazon to better protect its workers.
Amazon has raised wages by $2 per hour through the end of April for workers in their Canadian operations, a move major grocery chains and other essential services have also undertaken.
Employees will also receive double their regular hourly rate for every overtime hour from March 15 to May 9.
“We want to recognize our employees who are playing an essential role for people at a time when many of the services that might normally be there to support them are closed,” Amazon spokesperson Andrew Gouveia said in an email.
Wages typically start at $15.50 per hour, with full-time associates also receiving performance bonuses and stock awards, according to the company.
“I think we’re pretty well being ripped off,” one Amazon employee said. “Our health is at risk.”
Another described the $2 pay hike as “insulting.”
James Thomson is former business head of Amazon Services and currently works as a consultant. (Submitted by James Thomson)
James Thomson, a former Amazon executive, says this two-dollar-an-hour “hazard pay” appears rather low, especially in a context where warehouse workers express health concerns.
“They’re taking on a lot of physical risk in order to be able to reduce the risk for the consumer who otherwise doesn’t have to leave his or her home,” the former business head of Amazon Services said.
The e-commerce giant says employees’ health and safety are a top priority: “We continue to consult with medical and health experts, and take all recommended precautions in our buildings and stores to keep people healthy.”
FREDERICTON – New Brunswick RCMP are disputing claims that the recent shooting death of an Indigenous man in mental distress happened during a police wellness check.
Assistant commissioner DeAnna Hill, commander of the New Brunswick RCMP, says that information is inaccurate.
On Monday, the RCMP said two officers responded to a report of an armed man in mental distress at a home in the Elsipogtog First Nation, where one Mountie shot the man after the other failed to subdue him with a stun gun.
Erin Nauss, director of the Serious Incident Response Team, says she understands the initial interaction on Sunday was not what the RCMP would call a wellness check, but she says the police oversight agency will conduct an investigation to “determine all of the facts.”
Meanwhile, a statement from an Indigenous group that works with the RCMP said they weren’t told about the deadly incident until it was too late, and the group described the Mounties’ initial role at the scene as a wellness check.
As well, New Brunswick Liberal Leader Susan Holt has described what happened as a wellness check gone wrong.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
HALIFAX – RCMP are expected to provide an update today on their investigation into the suspicious disappearance of a 55-year-old Nova Scotia woman.
Esther Jones was reported missing on Labour Day, and the RCMP’s major crime unit is now involved in the case.
According to police, Jones was last seen on Aug. 31 in Kingston, N.S., and family members reported her missing Sept. 2.
Two days later, officers found Jones’s vehicle, a silver 2009 Volkswagen Passat, abandoned in nearby Greenwood, N.S.
Jones is described as five-feet-four with a slim build, and she has brown, greying, shoulder-length hair and hazel eyes.
She may have been wearing a black T-shirt with ties on the shoulders, a black and floral below-the-knee skirt, and sunglasses with mirrored lenses when she was last seen.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
TORONTO – Unifor says workers at a Walmart warehouse in Mississauga, Ont., have voted to join the union.
The union says it’s Walmart’s first warehouse to unionize in Canada.
Unifor national president Lana Payne says the employees stood up for their rights and the union is excited to get to work on their first collective agreement.
Unifor’s campaign at Walmart’s facility began in December 2023.
The vote was held from Sept. 10 to 12.
Unifor represents 315,000 workers across the country.
This report by The Canadian Press was first published Sept. 13, 2024.
