Amazon – How the Covid-19 pandemic has elevated Amazon’s dominance – podcast | Information

Earlier than the pandemic struck, excessive avenue retailers had been already struggling to remain aggressive with on-line corporations that provided low costs and speedy deliveries. When Covid-19 pressured outlets to shut and shoppers to remain at dwelling, on-line retailers, significantly Amazon, had been ideally positioned to capitalise.

The Guardian columnist John Harris tells Anushka Asthana that having spoken to a number of Amazon staff in current weeks and months, it’s clear that rising demand is putting an enormous pressure on the workforce. Whereas Amazon quickly raised its wage charges, staff allege that solely in April did masks develop into obligatory and warehouses over the summer season had been usually uncomfortably scorching.

One employee, Courtney Brown, says the Amazon Contemporary warehouse in New Jersey the place she works has had an enormous enhance in hiring and that staff would take breaks of their vehicles to keep away from overcrowding. Amazon stated in response that it “prioritised the safety and health of its employees”, and spent “over $800m on security measures within the first half of the 12 months alone, together with private protecting tools, enhanced cleansing, staggered and versatile shifts, revisions at workstations and creating in-house Covid-19 testing capabilities.”

In the meantime, Tim Bray, a former firm vice-president, is now what the New York Instances calls “Amazon’s highest-profile defector”. He says Amazon can seem to deal with its staff as interchangeable and that he sees the controversies swirling round Amazon as being symptomatic of a lot deeper points, which might solely be resolved by governments.

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