Contingent Workers Overused & Underpaid

Contingent Workers Being Overworked and Underpaid “Inside Amazon’s Warehouse”—Morning Call 09/17/11 I found this article particularly interesting because it is local and it shows the abundance of temporary workers in this job market and how they are willing to be treated to keep a job and have income even if it is only $11-$12 an hour. Integrity Staffing Solutions is the company that hires temporary workers for the Amazon warehouse in Breinigsville, PA. These temporary employees are told by ISS that if they work hard while in this position they may be hired into permanent positions but this rarely happened.

The temporary positions would end after a number of hours and then they can re-apply for these same positions within a few months. The reality was that many of these temporary workers never got offered or “promoted” to a permanent position though. This is said to be the future for many companies in that they hire more temporary staff than permanent because they do not expect benefits and will work for lower pay. Warehouse positions such as this are very high demand both physically and mentally.

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Many of these workers were pushed harder and harder until they got injured or physically could not complete the responsibilities of the job anymore. With them being temporary workers they would just be let go and then another temporary worker would be assigned to this same position. It is an ideal world for Amazon because they always have fresh blood in the warehouse. This was taken from the article and highlights many of the key points I had just mentioned, “The situation highlights how companies like Amazon can wield their significant leverage over workers in the bleak job market, labor experts say.

Large companies such as Amazon can minimize costs for benefits and raises by relying on temporary workers rather than having a larger permanent workforce, those experts say. ” The treatment of all workers was highlighted in the article with interviews of over 20 current or previous employees of Amazon. These positions were physically demanding and people could not keep up with the increasing demands that were handed down by the company.

They talk of the heat index in the summer in the warehouse would reach over 100 degrees and they would have ambulances waiting outside the building to assist people. If a temporary worker became ill or couldn’t physically do the job anymore their assignment would be terminated and they would no longer have a job. This created fear amongst the temporary staff and most of them pushed through the pain and continued working so that they could keep the job because it was income even if it was only $11-$12 an hour. http://www. mcall. com/news/local/mc-allentown-amazon-complaints-20110917,0,1246510. story