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Amazon makes us sick!

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Hi, I am Patrick.
Now I am 29 years old.

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I have been working for
Amazon for more than 6 years.

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Today I took
part in the strike.

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Interviews with Amazon workers from Poznań,
Leipzig and Orléans, July 2017

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I have been working for
Amazon for about 3 years.

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I have been working for Amazon for
nearly 2 years. In November it's 2 years.

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I started working for Amazon
on August 1, 2016.

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My name is
Jean Francois.

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I have been working for Amazon
in the Pick department for 5 years.

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I am Mike Oberländer. I have been working
for Amazon since October 15, 2009.

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For nearly 8 years.

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I am a so-called Picker, so my job is to
collect the items.

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I work in the vendor area.

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We send back products
which have not been sold.

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During picking I walk up
to 20 kilometers per day.

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I have a hand scanner which
always tells me where I have to go.

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I collect the item
from the shelves.

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I put it into the transport box.
That's my everyday life as a picker.

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We lift many loads
which are more or less heavy.

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With items and boxes
which are being processed at the time.

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During picking we
move around a lot.

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About a dozen kilometers
per day.

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In Pack, we spend most
of our time packing,

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standing up
on one spot.

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In Pack, I take the box
from the belt.

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I choose an item and
take a cardboard box,

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put the item into the box,
take the tape,

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tape the box shut and
throw the package on the belt,

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where it goes on.

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How does this work affect your health?

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The health problems you can see
are problems with the joints,

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tendonitis,

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back problems...

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You have to constantly look at the monitor
and check the products non stop.

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Whether everything is alright
or not,

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and you have to turn
the neck, left, right.

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That strains the neck.

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You do feel that.

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I have no problems
with the arms,

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but many problems with the legs
and the spine.

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Recently, I had cramps in my legs
and problems with my sciatic nerve.

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After 8 years you do feel
that it strains your joints,

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the brachial joints, the knees,
the ankles.

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They hurt more now
than 8 years ago.

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You simple cannot move there,
you stand on one spot the whole time.

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That harms
your health.

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The lighting conditions at Amazon
aren't the best.

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You feel that the eyesight
deteriorates over time.

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Some people also have
problems with the skin.

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Due to the dry air and the dust
my sinuses often hurt.

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You feel it when you enter the building,
the air is not circulating.

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Thank god, I don't have any
problems with that.

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But I know colleagues who
suffer from neurodermatitis

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and who have real
problems with that.

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or are slightly allergic to dust

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and are struggling and have to
take antiallergic agents.

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At Amazon, many people get sick
in my opinion,

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especially in winter

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when the flu epidemic comes
and you easily catch a cold.

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The people are scared
to take a sick leave,

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scared to lose their jobs or
get into trouble somehow.

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Since they are scared
they come to work and infect others!

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So one becomes infected by someone else
and so on.

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In addition, Amazon has introduced a system
called "Comperior", a subcontractor

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which controls the people
on sick leave.

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This company controls them,

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and the people are even more scared
to take a sick leave

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because they don't know how they
should behave when they get controlled.

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What they should say
and what not.

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That's why they
come to work sick.

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The 10,5 hours of standing up have the
biggest impact on my health.

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There are two breaks of 15 minutes
and one of 30 minutes.

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But that is not enough to recover
as we have to stand up all the time.

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We have no opportunity to sit down shortly
and take a rest.

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So, eventually, we
stand up for 10,5 hours.

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Plus the journey to work...

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... so we spend 13 to 14 hours out of the
house and are on our feet the whole time.

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We cannot sit down
for this whole period

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since we would have to
report that to the manager.

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But it is clear that the manager
would not allow us to rest.

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He would have to report
that to the medical doctor,

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and it would have to be a severe
illness to be allowed to rest.

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It would be nice to have the chance
to sit down for 2 minutes or so

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and to take a rest, but we cannot
do that, unfortunately.

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In our pick towers there is no
seating possibility

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where you could
take a short rest.

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If you sit down, let's say,
on a box,

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or you have a short rest
on the stairs,

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then it can happen that you will
immediately be asked

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to stand up again as you should not
sit but continue to work.

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If you don't scan any product
for more than 3 minutes

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then it shows up in the system
and is counted as an additional break.

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The breaks we get
are absolutely not sufficient.

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No break
is long enough.

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If you want to eat at Amazon,
the queues at the serving counter are long.

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The time is just long enough
to line up and eat.

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But there is no time left
to go to the toilet.

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Is there big pressure to
reach the quota?

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When they try to put
pressure on us,

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because of numbers or quotas,
then I tell myself

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numbers are not mentioned
in my work contract.

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Amazon tries to use that again and
again to put pressure on us,

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but that never appeals
to the permanent workforce.

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But it has an effect on new colleagues
who have limited contracts

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because they are told they need to
reach the quota

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and they have
to work a bit faster.

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You see the effect as they start
to really run then.

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At Amazon you got this pressure
to send out the CPT-packages.

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They have to be sent out
by a certain time.

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It is stressful as we are
continuously pushed

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so that it
works out at all.

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The managers and leaders
run around

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and make sure that
each package is sent out.

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I am already nervous
on the way to work.

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At work I am continously
under pressure,

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where they place me,
whether the workplace functions,

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and the stress is terrible,
and that is the most exhausting for me.

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The stress is caused by the boxes 
they put down close to us.

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On the one hand you take
things from the belt and you pack them.

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Then there are the (Process Guides) who
place more boxes at our feet.

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Boxes and TODs for packing.

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We don't know whether we should take
the items on the left

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or those standing below,
on the right of our feet.

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Because we don't know
what we should do first

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we are under
great pressure and stress.

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The working speed
is a problem, for sure.

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You get feedbacks
regularly

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where you are told a quota
that you need to reach in one hour.

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And you get told at what point
you are

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and that you could
do even more.

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If you are working too slow they
come and say: "You are working too slow,

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your rates are too low,"

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and they ask you, or rather:
force you to work faster.

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Sometimes people are told they
 should not go to the toilet that often.

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That sounds a bit funny.

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They try to built up
pressure by all means,

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as I mentioned, also through feedbacks
which happen regularly.

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You are asked to go to your place,
and they show you the curve

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that shows how many items you have
picked per hour in the past two weeks.

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And if you haven't reached the quota,
you are clearly told

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that you should
increase your performance.

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Those are targets
set by Amazon.

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In my view, it is not really possible
to reach them.

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When I started working
at Amazon

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I made a point of
meeting the targets

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and reach the quota.

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So I did not go to the toilet often
and I drank less,

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and the result was

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that I got problems
with my kidney at some point.

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For that reason I was
in hospital twice.

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I had developed
kidney stones.

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The doctor said that my body
had dehydrated a lot and was exhausted.

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And the reason for that was
that I had drunken less.

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After that, I also had
an accident at Amazon

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so that I was on sick leave
for almost 5.5 months.

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When I came back to work
after 5.5 months,

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I was completely shocked:

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The female colleagues with whom
I had started working there

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and who had worked well,

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without warnings, times of absense
or feedbacks...

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They had quit the job!

163
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Not because of the physical pressure
but because of the psychological pressure.

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The psychological pressure started
when they began working at one place

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but soon after were
sent somewhere else.

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They were treated without respect,
and that also created stress,

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and this atmosphere led to the situation
that they preferred to leave.

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How are you affected by the working hours?

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The shift system has a big
effect on my body.

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Because after a night shift
I sleep until 1 p.m.,

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because a human being
is not able

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to get used
to such a rhythm.

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Then, after changing
to the day shift,

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you have to adjust again.

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That destroys the body.

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Because of 10.5 hours of work
and the 80 minutes commute each way

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I can't normally participate
in family life.

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When I get home
at 6 a.m.

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I have to prepare the child
for school.

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I don't sleep until 7 a.m.
because then my child gets up.

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I have to make sandwiches
and take it to school, then it's 8 a.m.

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Then I can lie down
and rest,

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but not for long because at 11:30 a.m.
the child gets back from school

184
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and I have to prepare lunch
as my wife works until 2 p.m.

185
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I have to do everything, and then I have
to leave for the night shift at 4 p.m.

186
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I have less than 6 hours
of sleep.

187
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The work at Amazon is exhausting for me.
After 4 days of work I am dead beat.

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When the weekend is coming

189
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I need 1.5 days
just to rest.

190
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I cannot do anything else
but rest.

191
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My muscles are hurting,
my legs, my back.

192
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That's also why I don't
have any hobbies.

193
00:15:09,069 --> 00:15:13,277
Work accidents?

194
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Work accidents happen
here and there.

195
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An item might fall down from a shelf
on your head

196
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or you slip in spilled liquids
and hurt your joints

197
00:15:30,162 --> 00:15:32,939
or sprain or tear your ligaments.

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You are told you should
be more careful.

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The working conditions
don't get changed

200
00:15:40,514 --> 00:15:44,023
but the responsibility is always
shifted to us employees.

201
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The people generally don't know
that they need to go to the medical station

202
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and to the casualty doctor,

203
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and that they need to get the tendonitis
acknowledged as a work-related injury.

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In France, we have a system
that makes it possible

205
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to not lose that much money when
you have a work-related injury.

206
00:16:10,654 --> 00:16:15,267
In France, the first three
days of sick leave are not paid.

207
00:16:15,467 --> 00:16:20,467
But if it is a work-related injury
then those days are paid, for instance.

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People don't know that the doctor
should open a file

209
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in order to acknowledge all that.

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I came to work on August 21, 2016,

211
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and was consigned to a place
that did not function.

212
00:16:45,686 --> 00:16:51,269
Instead of shifting me somewhere else
they just left me there.

213
00:16:51,554 --> 00:16:56,452
After two hours, the paper dispenser
fell onto my foot.

214
00:16:56,710 --> 00:17:00,225
It crushed
my ankle.

215
00:17:00,769 --> 00:17:05,752
I did not get any help.

216
00:17:05,979 --> 00:17:07,835
The medic determined

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that I had scratched myself
and could still work.

218
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So I continued to work... with the
crushed foot... for 11 hours.

219
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- Was the medic from Amazon or not?
- From Amazon.

220
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I asked to be taken to hospital by an
ambulance to have an X-ray.

221
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That was not permitted.

222
00:17:28,894 --> 00:17:36,413
It was the day shift and I was told that
I should work until the end of the shift

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and drive to the hospital after work
to get an X-ray then.

224
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As a result of 
this denial of help,

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I will have problems with
my foot for the rest of my life.

226
00:17:57,387 --> 00:18:02,544
When I returned to work
after 6 months of sick leave

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with a splint

228
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my first task was to work
at the shelves

229
00:18:12,997 --> 00:18:17,980
where I had to climb up
and down a ladder for 11 hours.

230
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As a result, after two weeks my foot
was wasted again

231
00:18:23,123 --> 00:18:27,120
and I was on sick leave
again for 2.5 months.

232
00:18:28,877 --> 00:18:33,766
How do you try to protect yourself?

233
00:18:34,757 --> 00:18:39,769
In fact, in this respect the workforce
has rather given up.

234
00:18:40,074 --> 00:18:45,238
We are the only people who resist
at the moment as part of the labor dispute.

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Currently, we want to formulate a
collective agreement on health issues

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with a list of measures
for health protection at work.

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We frequently send demands
to the employer

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and try to built up pressure
through the works council

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so that risks are assessed
and actually observed

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but that is rather difficult.

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Amazon has this "health day" and
several "fruit days."

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But all that goes back to the fact that
the colleagues who are on strike outside

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said they want a collective agreement
that also regulates health issues,

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a collective agreement
on health

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so that you can regulate certain
issues like procedures, rotation etc.

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And because we started with that topic
Amazon reacted

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and declared a "year of health", and
after that all those "smart every day",

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health days, fruit days, 
etc. followed.

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We submit applications
to the labor safety commission

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that Amazon does
not respect.

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We report
to the managers

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when something does not work,
something is not permitted,

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that you don't get boxes
put in front of your feet.

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Managers and leaders
just walk past us

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and don't respect
that at all.

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For instance, we reported repeatedly that
the water dispensers need to be repaired.

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They still didn't get 
repaired for one month.

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The pallet trolleys are also a cause 
of work-related accidents.

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But nobody from Amazon
does react.

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00:20:51,536 --> 00:20:55,568
Allegedly, at Amazon the guiding
principle concerning health

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is "Safety First."

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The problem is that health
concerns us all,

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safety is a problem
for all.

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But actually...

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if they were honest they had to say:
"Productivity first, business first."

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In my opinion, Amazon
is lying all the time

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and plays
with the workers.

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in cooperation with the 
"Cross-Border Meeting of Amazon-Workers"
https://amworkers.wordpress.com