Editorial. Amazon, the cardboard job

That Amazon France was slaving its employees, no one really doubted it. For years, unions have been warning about the social violence that reigns in the gigantic warehouses of the multinational. But, until now, precise data were lacking to measure the extent of the exploitation and its nature. The document that we are revealing today puts numbers on the evils. And give a clinical overview of the disastrous employment policy led by the firm of Jeff Bezos.

Carried out by an independent firm, this expertise will be officially unveiled this Friday, January 22, during a central social and economic committee of the company. It testifies to a generalized precariousness and to frightening phenomena of suffering at work. Far from the soothing speeches on the great savior of employment and “seasonal interim”, Amazon France appears there as the king of disposable work all year round. Judge for yourself: in 2019, these famous temporary workers represented 44% of the total workforce hired, and even 64% (!) For the most arduous jobs. Over the past two years, the use of part-time, overtime and night work has exploded. The number of CDI has melted. Job turnover has accelerated. And there are an average of three work accidents per day. A figure surely underestimated, the company, specialist in data collection, having done everything to hide the troublesome elements from the experts …

Two months ago, we recalled in these columns the imperative need to no longer bow down in the face of the economic and social predation of the number one in online sales. Faced with the mastodon, whose capitalization is equivalent to Russia’s GDP (1.5 trillion euros), the public authorities can no longer remain petrified. Or just play the good offices by greeting, like Emmanuel Macron, the “Incredible luck” warehouse locations. It is time to understand that, behind the tin partitions, human lives weigh little more than the boxes with the smiley logo.