Amazon Employees Contend With 110 Degree Heat In Allentown, Penn. Warehouse: Report

Some workers at Amazon.com’s Allentown, Pennsylvania warehouse are reportedly willing to contend with working at a brutal pace in dizzying heat so long as it means having a job.

Only one out of 20 Allentown-based current or former Amazon employees interviewed by The Morning Call reported that the online retailer was a good place to work. During summer heat waves Amazon had paramedics on standby to treat any employees who couldn’t stand the heat, the paper reported. But many workers pushed through difficult working conditions after seeing what happened to other employees who didn’t meet expectations — they were fired and escorted out of the warehouse.

Some employees worked 11-hour days during the holiday season and others were forced to maintain their productivity levels, even during the summer heat, The Morning Call reported. That might be what it takes to get the giant boost in sales Amazon saw last year.

The company says otherwise. Amazon officials told The Morning Call in an emailed statement , "the safety and welfare of our employees is our No. 1 priority," in response to complaints forwarded to the company by the paper.

(Read the entire story of alleged Amazon.com abuse here.)

But this isn’t the first time Amazon has been in hot water over the company’s working conditions. Amazon required some employees to work seven days a week and scared others out of taking sick leave, according to a December 2008 report from The Times of London.

With the unemployment rate hovering above nine percent for months and more than two million Americans who have been jobless for 99 weeks, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, some of those interviewed by the paper said they felt lucky to have a job.

The dismal jobs outlook means that it’s not uncommon for workers to avoid complaining about working in dizzying heat, according to Denise McDavid, director of the Contra Costa Builders Exchange. The Northern California-based company brought in Occupational Safety and Health Administration regulators during a May heat wave to educate employers on their obligations to their workers during a heat wave, according to CBS News.

Amazon is one of the few companies that’s been on a hiring spree in an uncertain economy. The company added close to 15,000 employees between the second quarter of 2010 and 2011, TechFlash reported. Many of the new hires came from acquisitions of other distribution centers, which the company is set to continue in 2011, according to TechFlash.

And the employee boost seems to be paying off. Amazon sales surged by 51 percent in the second quarter of 2011, compared with the same period a year ago, according to TechFlash.

Amazon also may have had a leg up in sales because in many states online retailers are allowed to collect and remit sales tax, according to Reuters. The company reached an agreement to collect sales tax beginning September 2012 with California state legislators and the California Retail Association earlier this month.

Read the entire story of alleged Amazon.com abuse here.

Comments

[Michael Cortese]

09:38 AM on 10/05/2011

BOO-effin-HOO to those that have jobs, get overtime, and have to endure a hot warehouse. I've worked in many a warehouse in my day, and this is NOTHING NEW. Most of these companies have EXCELLENT benefits and pay compared to other "non-degreed" blue collar workers. I'll bet they weren't complaining when they were getting those fat 11-hour workday overtime checks. They don't say anything cause they know its the best they can get. I know. I've done it and have seen hundreds of other workers that do it daily. It comes with the territory. Don't like it? Good luck finding better.

next thing you know, construction workers will be complaining about the weather!!!

[mary896]

04:55 PM on 10/18/2011

I wish there were a button to make me a non-fan of yours. But no. Your comment is the most ignorant and uncaring post ever. If you're a christian, go to church, now! If not, then you're just an angry nasty person who cares nadda about human suffering.

[fortressfountain]

06:30 PM on 09/29/2011

Everyone says "the safety and welfare of their employees are their number one concern." Well it is only to save them from workmens comp suits.

[Cheri Boeneman]

11:45 AM on 09/29/2011

To boot, Amazon.com is a member of ALEC, the organization that writes anti-labor laws and anti-voter registration laws and sends them to the states for passage without modification.

[Brianna Leigh]

07:11 PM on 09/28/2011

My dad is a steel worker and he doesn't even put up with that... What a shame.

[lehighmom2]

02:52 PM on 09/24/2011

MORNING CALL TODAY REPORTS (THIS IS NO JOKE)
Amazon.com named BEST PLACE TO WORK (Warehouse) in the LEHIGH Valley in their 2011 Readers Choice Awards.

How does a paper write that they were the WORST last week and they are the BEST this week. Can we say that maybe this article might be FALSE NOW and get on with Investigating the Journalist SPENCER SOPER. Join me in asking the Morning Call WHAT THEY ARE THiNKING. As Americans we have to have some level of trust in the journalist that report. This is proof that this paper has no credibility. EITHER THE JOURNALIST IS LYING OR THE READERS CHOICE PROCESS FOR THE PAPER IS A LIE. One way or the other this paper should be sued by someone. OUTRAGEOUS!

[Hlynn]

11:04 PM on 09/23/2011

I hope there will be a follow up on this article.

I've received two replies from Amazon in response to my contacts to them and they insisted, in both emails (which I've posted on this thread) that they have installed air conditioners and have hired many temp employees to become full time employees at Amazon. I would like to know if what they told me--and are telling many others who also contacted them about this--is true or not true.

[lehighmom2]

02:49 PM on 09/24/2011

Read the morning call today. I had my son stop working at the building because I believed the article and not him. I was concerned about his safety. He swore to me that article was wrong and he stated he knew some of the poeple quoted and they were the lazy ones. He did say it got hot, but He said they installed AIR CONDITIONING systems in July - well before this article.

THE BIG NEWS - In todays morning call, the READERS CHOICE AWARD for BEST PLACE TO WORK IN THE LEHIGH VALLEY was awarded to Amazon by the Morning Call. If this does not tell you that SPENCER SOPER THE DEMON JOURNALIST that wrote that article should be investigated for bad journlism, I don't know what will. Clearly 100000 people that voted can't be wrong. I hope they hire my son back and I am petitioning for the Morning Call to FIRE SPENCER SOPER

[Hlynn]

10:18 AM on 09/25/2011

I don't think people were taken to the hospital because they were lazy. A doctor confirmed that people were in conditions that were unsafe. A man had to crawl on his knees to find products for customers. You obviously read the article, so do you believe it was all made up?

I grew up back east in NY, CT, and ME. It was hot, hazy, and humid during every summer. Stifling heat. So humid that you could walk out the door and be drenched in sweat within minutes. I lived there nearly 30 years ago, so they can't claim they didn't know the temperature was like that in the summer. They kept the doors closed, and there was no air conditioning or people would not have had to have medical attention.

I asked Amazon for a name and address of a person at Amazon to write to because I was concerned about the conditions where people were working. They refused to give me a name and address. That, to me, means they have something to hide and their assurances that everything is fine now are suspect.

I'm glad your son enjoys his job, but that doesn't mean he knows everything that happens to others. Instead of calling for someone to be fired, why not call on them to do a follow-up article to explain that the past problems have been solved? I think many people would like to see that since many were so upset about the article.

[publiknme]

02:44 PM on 09/23/2011

......this is what happens when there are no unions......the welfare of the employees always takes a back seat to corporate greed.........

[mochaview]

12:14 AM on 09/23/2011

Oh Amazon, we've had so many good years together when I used to have money and a job. Now thou offends the realm of the worker? So, thou doth only understandeth LACK OF PROFIT. Anyone out there know of Amazon's competition? If they are halfway decent, I will take my leave and my future duckets elsewhere.

[lehighmom2]

03:26 PM on 09/24/2011

see my post. The same paper that wrote the article last week, just NAMED AMAZON the Readers Choice Best Place to Work (Warehouse) in the Lehigh Valley. That is what should outrage people How do we trust journalism any more. They take the word of 7 named sources and write one of the most damning articles EVER written on Amazon and at the SAME TIME KNEW THAT THE COMPANY WAS NAMED THE BEST PLACE TO WORK IN THIER OWN CONTEST> Is that ethical.

[mochaview]

11:30 AM on 09/27/2011

You're right, that is ridiculous. They were probably pressured by either Amazon's business interest or by someone in power desperate to keep the jobs there. I feel for the people there and being a 93er in NY State, I currently have no job, need one desperately and will take anything now. People caught up in this mess and under pressure are going to snap one fine day and start going after the managers.
Sorry it took so long to respond but since I've no job, I lost internet connection. I need something fast and since I can commute to Zuccotti Park for free I've been doing my best to support the Occupy Wall Street group. They are not pot smokers, not all out of their minds and full of crap. I also informed them of this article and will update this information with them also.

[arliobserver]

09:53 PM on 09/22/2011

Easy - just boycott Amazon - and get the jaggoffs at Hershey Chocolate to make product in PA again - your candy bar is from CHINA - may the lord help us.

[mochaview]

12:02 AM on 09/23/2011

I don't want to eat anything from China. I was shocked they did that. Don't trust anything from China. Not their toys full of lead or cadmium and definitely nothing to eat. So tired of things that are POC/MIC - PIECES OF CRAP / MADE IN CHINA. Hershey's is now banned in this house.

[arliobserver]

02:06 PM on 09/23/2011

There is a firm in DC called Video Monitoring Service. Originally it was just flagging TV footage. They or similar organizations provide daily updates to corporations - of mention in TV Radio Blogs, magazines , newspapers, such as this. I promise you - corporate AmeriKa needs to hear it's name smeared with Made In China to get the message - we want China and their polluted processes out of the USA Food Chain. Read the labels - if their is no country of origin - only "distributed by" - you are looking at a hidden Chinese product most of the time. Google "Hershey's and China" for the full scoop.

[arliobserver]

09:45 PM on 09/22/2011

These MoNsTeR EmPlOyErS are all around us. Verizon service personel who drive trucks have been told to keep the windows up on their trucks. AND do not run the AC as the temp change in and out of the truck all day will make them sick. I think what we have down here in Fairfax & Arlington Counties VA is some sort of regional manager with a screw loose. Amazon could wasilt afford misrt cooling at the main warehouse doors and exhaust fans up high on the outside walls exhausting the heat. I can see that AC for a warehouse 40 feet tall filled with 100000 tons of stuff is not reasable - but in those temps - management needs to bring their desk out to the warehouse too.

[wilray]

04:39 PM on 09/22/2011

Just ten degrees above that is the temperature we are advised to set our water heaters. 120° is the maximum we should set our the thermostats for our water heaters, especially when we have small children or elderly people. Above 120° we are in danger of scalding. Yet, that is only 10° above what these people were expected to work in.

[gunrunner99]

07:40 PM on 09/25/2011

I will take the job,promise.I worked in a metal finishing plant,the tanks have to be kept super hot,in the summer,I ate salt tablets,was interesting work and the people were great,there was no whining back then,with jobs as scarce as they are,I would jump on it,everytime we whine about an American plant it is dangerous,they can go to china,they wont be regulated there.

[Azlegit]

10:37 AM on 09/22/2011

I worked a summer in Arizona pulling wiring through apartments that were not completed and had no A/C. Temps out side would hit 115 deg and only hotter inside. It only inspired me to better myself rather than just complain

[MoeB]

12:29 PM on 09/22/2011

Well, good for you...join the club. MANY of us worked jobs where we had to contend w/heat...the difference here is that I don't assume that EVERY person's body has the same ability to deal with extreme heat as my OWN, so I don't try to present myself as above them because of it...nor do I assume that a worker who complains about shoddy working conditions has no desire to "better" themselves.

Further, part of the reason this is public knowledge is because the doctor's that treated these people (after they had been carted off in an ambulance) is because the DOCTOR'S reported it to federal regulators. Employees also filed complaints, but honestly, if I had to be taken to the hospital and treated for heat exhaustion, I'd probably voice my concerns over working conditions as well...ESPECIALLY if I wanted to keep working there because I needed the job. And if you read more articles on the subject, you'd know that part of the reason it got so hot in there was the doors were kept CLOSED to prevent theft of the merchandise. So not only a hot warehouse, but a hot warehouse w/NO ventilation.

http://gaw­ker.com/je­ff-bezos

...but sure, go after the workers.

[Sandra MacKay]

03:11 PM on 10/13/2011

Get off your high horse to the person above you who bragged!

[TucsonEd]

03:24 AM on 09/22/2011

Nothing to see here, move along.
WHAT about construction, telephone, cable and power company employees that work outside in the summer in the the Southwest? They have working conditions like that AND when there are outages they work lots and lots of hours in the heat. I've never seen you do an article on that.

[peachfuzz]

05:11 PM on 09/26/2011

Visiting Nurses: not every one has AC in their homes, and the short bits in the hot car don't count. You have to have access to a lot of water and remember to drink it.

[ItsJustCommonSense]

03:21 AM on 09/22/2011

Jeff Bezos is supposedly worth 8 billion dollars but he can't provide air conditioning for the people working in his warehouse?
Instead this is the kind of stuff he spends his money on:
http://www.businessinsider.com/jeff-bezos-is-funding-a-10000-year-clock-in-texas-2011-6

Amazing....truly amazing.

[ItsJustCommonSense]

03:12 AM on 09/22/2011

Recommend everyone read a more in depth article about the heat in Amazon's warehouse. A lot of it had to do with the fact that Amazon supervisors refused to open doors that would have cooled down the place because they were worried about theft.
http://gawker.com/jeff-bezos

[Hlynn]

11:10 PM on 09/23/2011

That was in the article--that they didn't want to keep the doors open for concerns about theft. So, how much would it have cost them to pay someone to guard the open doors?

They were paying paramedics to take people to hospitals! Paramedics were WAITING for people to pass out. This wasn't a 'call 911 and hang on until they get there'--they were there for that purpose because they EXPECTED people to be so overwhelmed by the heat that they would need medical attention! How much do you suppose that cost? They were allegedly buying ice, ice pops, and cooling bandanas in large quanitities for the workers. How much do you think that cost? And how much does bad publicity cost a company?