Last week, Mark Pocan, A Wisconsin democrat, lashed at Amazon, accusing the behemoth online store against its workers’ poor working conditions. “Paying workers $15/hr doesn’t make you a “progressive workplace” when you union-bust & make workers urinate in water bottles.” He tweeted.
Paying workers $15/hr doesn't make you a "progressive workplace" when you union-bust & make workers urinate in water bottles. https://t.co/CnFTtTKA9q
— Rep. Mark Pocan (@repmarkpocan) March 25, 2021
Amazon, in return, declined the claim in reply to the democrat’s tweet, saying, “You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do and have great wages and health care from day one.”
So yesterday, before the Easter weekend, Amazon made a public apology to Popcan for being ‘incorrect’ and not issuing an ‘accurate’ statement on the issue. Regarding its drivers peeing on plastic bottles, Amazon acknowledged the matters as their own goal via their official blog. “This was an own-goal, we’re unhappy about it, and we owe an apology to Representative Pocan,” Amazon wrote.
Apologizing for an incorrect and inaccurate comment in itself is the least anyone expected from Amazon. Even worse, Amazon only apologized to the US congressman, Pocan, without even acknowledging the dire situation of its workers’ working conditions.
In its defense, Amazon announced that drivers peeing on water bottles was an industry-wide issue, even quoting Uber and UPS. “Regardless of the fact that this is industry-wide, we would like to solve it. We don’t yet know-how, but will look for solutions.” Amazon wrote.
Additionally, Amazon also seemed to shift the blame on the pandemic and the drivers’ routes when dispensing their duties. In a blog post, Amazon wrote, “We know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been especially the case during Covid when many public restrooms have been closed,”
This incident is just a representation of the dire situation that Amazon workers endure dispensing their duties. Several incidents seem to be wrapped under the bed, but that may not be the case for a long time as the giant online store faces another law suite of workers forgoing their lunch sessions.