BabyfaceJezus commented: “That’s why we must help each other. Unionizing is about support. Lean on the union. We can only go far together, U know?,” in a comment that received 163 upvotes.
Jason Anthony, the lead organizer for the ALU, said the claims made in the latest Reddit post are “totally correct but it varies by location, for example here in NYC Prime Week Our MET [mandatory extra time/overtime] is one of our days off but not everyone is affected by this. In other words, [workers] will be [on] 5 days [of] 11-hour shifts in NYC.”
He added: “These workers are required to be hydrated all the time due to physical movement throughout the day and [at] some point they will need to go to the bathroom and there’s no air conditioning in [any] of the facilities.”
Sharing an image (seen just below) of a facility showing a packaging belt with a couple of small fans, Anthony said: “This is what we have here in NYC.”
“While customer demand does increase at certain points in the year, our employees are not allowed to work more than 12 hours per day, and we work with each employee to be as flexible as we can, depending on their needs,” Stephenson added.
He said shift schedules are set by site management based on “business requirements” but typically “frontline employees work 10 hours a day, four days a week.”
Employees working overtime hours are compensated “according to state and federal overtime regulations,” he said.
According to the U.S. Office of Personnel Management (OPM), “No statutory or regulatory limits apply to the amount of overtime work a manager may require an employee to perform.”
But they must receive overtime pay for work beyond 40 hours “at a rate not less than time and one-half their regular rates of pay” under the Fair Labor Standards Act (FLSA).
The OPM adds: “If an employee refuses to perform overtime work, the agency may discipline the employee for failure to report for scheduled overtime duty.”
The company tries to “provide mandatory extra time notice as far in advance as possible,” he said. “Employees are expected to work those hours if they do not request the time off or already have time off scheduled. Additionally, we work with employees individually to support reasonable accommodations when needed.”
In response to the ALU’s latest comments regarding working conditions, Stephenson said: “The health and safety of our employees is a top priority and, while it’s uncommon to find climate control in similar buildings across much of the industry, our fulfillment centers [packaging warehouses] are built with climate control and HVAC [heating, ventilation and air conditioning] systems designed to keep employees comfortable and safe all year round.”
He explained: “We have an open-door policy and encourage discussions between our employees and managers” and workers “normally speak with managers one-on-one or during group meetings.”
Stephenson said workers can also use “an online platform visible to all employees at their site” where they can post questions, comments and concerns and “leaders respond within 48 hours.”
