Next week, a California bill discussing warehouse workers issues is all set to go to a state senate vote. What will be the result? Should we expect it to become law? According to expert’s legislation should discuss with Amazon and other warehouses firms to make some significant changes. Recently, in May, Bill 701 was passed in the state assembly. According to that law, warehouse operators like Amazon and other warehouse companies should be clear regarding the quotas their laborers are likely to meet.
Bill 701 for the warehouse workers
According to bill 701, an employee shall not be required to meet a quota that stops agreement with rest periods, meals, use of bathroom facilities, health and safety laws. This bill also clearly seeks to ban employers from punishing employees who don’t meet quotas that allow them to take breaks or compromise with safety and health rules. According to the bill, if any worker fails to hit the productivity expectation, the company may lower the quotas in the state.
According to reports, several warehouse workers have spoken regarding minimizing bathroom breaks and complained that many delivery drivers have to pee in bottles and coffee cups instead of using a restroom. Though Amazon is closely monitoring workers’ productivity and including how long they spend outside from their stations.
According to the spokesperson in an interview with The New York Times, there is no such hard rule of termination if workers have performance issues but did not comment about the new bill.
According to a news source, last year, Amazon reportedly expects their workers to scan 400 items in one hour at fulfillment centers that usually use robots. Still, the report says the state of serious damage sustained at those warehouses was 50 percent more than in Amazon warehouses which are not automated.
What injury researcher says about the damage?
According to the warehouse injury researcher Edward Flores, repetitive strain injuries are problematic in automated warehouses. He added that due to workers’ quick response and repetitive motion of machines, repetitive injuries are happening.
In May, Amazon announced some of the measures and planned to include a meditation kioska and Zones for workers to stretch and relax their bodies.
No doubt Amazon has a long history regarding provocative labor practices. Recently Amazon shut down a warehouse in Chicago where workers demanded and protested for improving working conditions. According to some workers, Amazon was given them to work 10 hours shifts at other centers or go for a new job, but Amazon denies this!
Now the National Labor Relations Board official recommended that the warehouse workers of Amazon will go for a union vote. The retail department, store union, and wholesale department blamed e-commerce giant Amazon for violating labor laws and snooping with the process. The report says the workers are now voting against unionizing at the fulfillment center.
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