Tue, 12 Feb 2013

General union GMB says that online retailer Amazon’s use of temporary labour from Randstad “is equivalent to selection at the dock gates in Victorian times and is casual labour of the worst kind”.

These are the words of the union’s national organiser Paul Clarke, speaking ahead of scheduled worker protests tomorrow [13 February] outside nine Amazon locations across England and Scotland, at which they will be asking for the increased wages and the right for union representation and collective bargaining.

GMB plans to present Amazon with “Anti-Social Behavioural Orders [sic]” at the protest.

GMB says is not sure how many of the 15,000 Amazon staff in the UK are directly employed, but says in a statement that “many GMB members working for the company are employed by Randstad, an employment agency in casual or temporary jobs with no job security and no guaranteed incomes”.

Clarke comments: “The high-tech way Amazon process orders and tracks inventory disguises that it is also a traditional labour intensive mail order retail business. GMB plan to strip away the high-tech image and expose the exploitation involved in their business model.”

He also says that HM Revenue & Customs should “throw the book at Amazon and make them pay proper taxes”, adding: “GMB members at the company say that the name Amazon has become a dirty word among their friends and family, and Amazon are now swimming against the tide of public sentiment.”

In response, a Randstad spokesperson tells Recruiter: “Randstad, like many UK recruitment agencies, helps organisations to plan their people mix to cope with fluctuations both in today’s difficult economic environment, as well as supply and demand for that organisation’s services.

“For example, many of our clients have to respond quickly to customer demand, which means that the need for extra people to help deliver a service can shift at very short notice. When demand for clients’ products or services is high (for example, during the Christmas period), temporary opportunities become available which allows local people who are not employed to move into temporary work, which in many cases enables them to take a step into permanent work.”