Amazon workers/ Google Patents

亞馬遜網購帝國背後，你所看不見的血汗工廠

2013-12-02 Web only 作者：吳凱琳編譯

圖片來源：huffingtonpost.com 當人們感恩節在亞馬遜快樂血拼、並享受快速出貨服務的同時，卻少有人想到成千上萬在亞馬遜倉儲工作的員工的辛酸。

亞馬遜，在一般人的認知，總以為是一家科技公司，但是這個網路購物帝國的成功，背後卻是由人力血汗所構築而成。
12月1日，英國《觀察家報》（The Observer）記者卡洛爾．卡德瓦拉德（Carole Cadwalladr），第一手報導了她在亞馬遜位於英國斯旺西倉儲中心工作一星期的所見所聞。
卡 洛爾隱匿身份，透過英國斯旺西（Swansea）的人力派遣公司，找到這份臨時工作。她每次輪班要工作10.5小時，工作第二天，工廠經理告訴他們，過去 24小時他們已經揀選和包裝155,000項貨品，12月2日將是購物假期最忙碌的工作天，必須完成450,000項貨品的揀選與包裝。
輪班時中間只有15 分鐘休息時間，必須花6分鐘走到像機場安檢用的檢查門，坐下來休息不到一分鐘的時間，又得馬上起身，花6分鐘的時間走回到工作地點。
事實上，卡洛爾並非第一個潛入亞馬遜倉儲中心工作的記者，英國BBC《廣角鏡》（Panorama）記者亞當．里特（Adam Littler）同樣應徵在英國斯旺西倉儲中心的臨時工，並私下祕密錄影員工的工作實況，於上星期播出。
他必須在33秒內，在80萬平方公尺的倉儲內揀選正確的貨品，旁邊有掃瞄器監控員工的揀貨速度，若稍有延遲，就會響鈴。來來回回揀貨，如此換算下來，每次輪班要步行將近18公里的距離；時薪大約僅有6.5～8.25英鎊（約台幣325～413元）。
英國勞工專家麥可．馬爾默特（Michael Marmot）指出，亞馬遜倉儲中心的工作情況，將會提高作業員罹患心理與生理疾病的風險。


斯旺西只是亞馬遜在英國成立的八大倉儲中心之一。為了應付購物節假期爆量的訂單，光是在英國就額外僱用了15,000名臨時工，人力派遣公司的代表就直接在亞馬遜的倉儲中心工作。
亞馬遜預計未來3年，英國的倉儲中心數量將成長為兩倍。但是，這些臨時工並非亞馬遜員工，因此完全無法享受亞馬遜的員工福利，同樣也不會有基本保障。
然而，儘管不斷有媒體爆料，但現在的亞馬遜，可是各國、各地方政府積極拉攏的企業。
亞馬遜雖然有著令業界望塵莫及的資料管理系統與電子商務平台，但是從揀貨、包裝到出貨，全部都得靠大量的人工。在斯旺西的倉儲中心，共有四班工作人員輪值，每星期至少工作50小時。
正因為龐大人力需求，許多為高失業率所苦的地方政府，端出各項優惠方案，希望亞馬遜的倉儲中心落腳。英國威爾斯政府便大手筆補助880萬英鎊（約台幣4.4億元），興建斯旺西倉儲中心。
然而，究竟挽救失業率重要，或是維護基本工作權利重要？短時間內，恐怕難有定論。（吳凱琳編譯）
【新聞來源】My week as an Amazon insider
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