“At least three tents have been spotted in woodland beside the online retail giant’s base,” reports a Scottish newspaper — hidden behind trees, but within sight of Amazon’s warehouse, and right next to a busy highway. An anonymous reader writes:
Despite Scotland’s “bitterly cold winter nights” — with lows in the 30s — the tent “was easier and cheaper than commuting from his home,” one Amazon worker told the Courier. (Though yesterday someone stole all of his camping equipment.) Amazon charges its employees for shuttle service to the fulfillment center, which “swallows up a lot of the weekly wage,” one political party leader told the Courier, “forcing people to seek ever more desperate ways of making work pay.
“Amazon should be ashamed that they pay their workers so little that they have to camp out in the dead of winter to make ends meet…” he continued. “They pay a small amount of tax and received millions of pounds from the Scottish National Party Government, so the least they should do is pay the proper living wage.” Though the newspaper reports that holiday shopping has created 4,000 temporary jobs in the small town of Dunfermline, “The company came under fire last month from local activists who claimed that agency workers are working up to 60 hours per week for little more than the minimum wage and are harshly treated.”
Amazon responded, “The safety and well-being of our permanent and temporary associates is our number one priority.”
Read more of this story at Slashdot.