According to the statement, workers ‘are being made to clock in and out at the same time as hundreds of others, while packed company buses ferry workers back and forth.’ It goes on to say that ‘GMB members report being made to pack and pick items in cramped aisles, with no hand sanitiser, gloves or masks available,’ while ‘communal water fountains are still in use despite the obvious risk of spreading the deadly virus.’

Staff are also allegedly worried that the extra pay that Amazon has offered (£2/hour) ‘will act as an incentive for people who have COVID-19 symptoms to come to work instead of calling in sick.’

No hand sanitiser, gloves or masks available

Amanda Gearing, GMB Senior Organiser, said in the statemet: ‘Amazon is famous around the world for its brutal workplace culture and reckless disregard for its workers safety. It’s disappointing but not surprising that they continue to risk their workers’ lives for profit. Herding workers together like cattle is undermining the national lockdown and putting hundreds of working families at risk.

‘The NHS is stretched to its limit and Amazon’s failure to act is turning its warehouses into a breeding ground for Coronavirus. GMB is dedicated to protecting workers, and Amazon need to step up immediately.

‘We need risk assessments, PPE for the workers and full pay for vulnerable workers for 12 weeks. Social distancing needs to be enforced right away to control the spread.

‘It just goes to show that companies will always protect profits first.’

When asked for a comment in response to the Union’s statement, an Amazon spokesperson said: ‘Now more than ever, Amazon’s fulfilment and delivery networks play a critical role in serving people. In these unprecedented times, we remain committed to the health and safety of our employees, partners, and the customers we serve.

‘Since the early days of this situation, we have worked closely with health authorities to proactively respond, ensuring we continue to serve customers while taking care of our associates and teams. We have also implemented proactive measures at our facilities to protect employees including increased cleaning at all facilities, maintaining social distance in the FC, and adding distance between drivers and customers when making deliveries. To serve our customers while also helping to ensure the safety of our associates, we’ve changed our logistics, transportation, supply chain, purchasing, and third-party seller processes to prioritise stocking and delivering items that are a higher priority for our customers.’

The company’s full statement can be found here.

GMB did not respond to Redbrick’s request for further information.

This is not the first time Amazon has come under scrutiny with regards to workers’ safety. A source. who worked at the company’s Droitwich warehouse in summer 2019, told Redbrick that ‘it felt a lot like [the company] valued performance above safety.’ He continued, saying that for bags of products on higher shelving units, ‘you had to get them down with the help of another person, however you had to do a certain amount of bags in a certain amount of time or they’d be onto you for being too slow.’

According to the source, this resulted in ‘people under 5’5” reaching for really heavy bags above six feet by themselves, as they don’t want to lose their job for being too slow.’ They believe this ‘would lead to health complications if you worked there for any extended period of time.’