After lying about the fact that some of its workers areunder so much pressurethat they are forced to relieve themselves in nursing bottle for meet their quotas , Amazon has quietlysaid it ’s sorryin its own very weird mode and recognise that driver do in fact do this . It then pronto betoken the finger at other companies like UPS and Uber and say gadget driver at those companies do it , too .
In anews articleposted late on the Friday before Easter , Amazon apologized to Democratic Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan , who it fought with in a bonkers Twitter outburst last week over the peeing in bottles issue . Pocan was commenting on another random , belligerent response from Amazon retail top dog Dave Clark , who was fight with Sen. Bernie Sanders for not being reform-minded enough .
“ Paying worker $ 15 / hour does n’t make you a ‘ progressive work ’ when you conjugation - bust & make worker pee-pee in water bottles,”Pocan tweetedat the time .
A courier unloads Amazon packages during a delivery on 20 March 2025 in Berlin, Germany.Photo: Sean Gallup (Getty Images)
And then , despite the fact that there is copious evidence that the party ’s workers are unfortunately placed in situations that make them pee in bottle , Amazon exploded anddecided to lie . ( In case you were wondering , a Recode report states that the company ’s fast-growing communications moves come in afterCEO Jeff Bezos express his dissatisfactionthat Amazon officials were n’t pushing back severely enough against “ inaccurate ” or “ shoddy ” unfavorable judgment ) .
“ You do n’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing , do you ? If that were reliable , nobody would ferment for us . The truth is that we have over a million unbelievable employees around the world who are majestic of what they do , and have great wages and wellness care from day one , ” the Amazon News accounttweeted backat Pocan . “ We hope you could enact policies that get other employer to volunteer what we already do . ”
The tocopherol - Commerce Department giant ’s reaction beat the internet and did n’t earn it a lot of sports fan . After posture on that for a few days , Amazon on the face of it determined that it was n’t the company ’s fine bit .
In the news clause , Amazon said that its tweet in answer to Pocan had been “ incorrect ” and did not study its large number one wood population , instead focusing only on employees at its fulfillment centers . The company also added that the tweet did not get “ proper examination , ” and did n’t hold up to its truth standard .
Both stop are problematic . It should be said that employee at fulfilment centersdon’t incisively have it easyto go to the toilet , either . Employees at fulfillment centers have report oftentimes adjudge their pee to head off spending “ metre off task , ” which some worker say can contribute to disciplinary action and even conclusion , per Motherboard .
Amazon deny this , though , saying that in its fulfilment centers employee can go to the bathroom at any fourth dimension . deal that some employees exact they do n’t even getmeal or rest breaksbecause of the amount of work the company throng on them , that claim is a flake grueling to believe .
Now , here ’s where Amazon admit the trouble facing its drivers on the road that forces them to pee in bottle , but does n’t recognize its role in this at all , or else choosing to impute this to traffic , rural route , and the pandemic . Yet , there was nothing in the company ’s statement about the workload it commit on its driver — Motherboard states drivers often deliver300 packages a daylight on a 10 - minute faulting — and the consequences they face , let in disciplinary activity and termination , if they do n’t match their productivity quotas .
“ [ W]e make out that drivers can and do have trouble finding public toilet because of traffic or sometimes rural path , and this has been especially the display case during Covid when many public restrooms have been closed , ” Amazon wrote . “ This is a long - standing , industry - wide military issue and is not specific to Amazon . ”
The caller added that although this was an industry - wide problem , it require to solve it , but did n’t know how to yet .
As if denying any responsibility was n’t enough , Amazon then go on to point the finger at other companies , such as Uber and UPS , whose drivers have also plain hadrelievethemselvesin bottles or other containers . It include radio link to nine contact to stories from other news outlet , and even the Pew Charitable Trust , about Uber , UPS , and other companies and embeds a handful of tweets from multitude benevolent to its quandary .
Honestly , it ’s just not a classy move from Amazon here . These companies are under the glare mighty now because of a tweet warfare they begin ( yet , who knows what the hereafter reserve ) . And if this is theorise to be an apology , it does n’t exactly make sense to start saying , “ Well other company do it , too , ” rather of owning up to your mistakes . This is not to say that these company do n’t merit scrutiny , however .
But the fully grown fail of Amazon ’s weird apologia was credibly the the great unwashed that it did n’t apologize to : its doer that are forced to relieve themselves in bottles , and frankly any other affair that is n’t a right public toilet . These are the hoi polloi whodeprive themselvesof food and water while driving for Amazon to avoid going to the lavatory , these are the people who are force to pee and poop in extreme conditions , these are mass who take being treat with less self-respect because of fear of lose their jobs . It ’s a fear Amazon has created .
These are the multitude who merit an apology . Pocan , the person who really received it , issued the same call in aTwitter berth on Saturday .
“ Sigh . This is not about me , this is about your workers — who you do n’t address with enough respect or dignity , ” he wrote . “ Start by acknowledging the inadequate working conditions you ’ve created for ALL your workers , then pay off that for everyone & finally , let them unionize without interference . ”
you’re able to register Amazon’sfull apology here .
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