Unite launch whistle-blowing hotline for Amazon workers
Campaigners are set to unfurl a banner at Edinburgh Castle today at 11am as part of Unite the Union’s “Action on Amazon” campaign launch.
As part of the campaign a confidential whistle-blowing line has also been set up by unite for Amazon workers to speak out against abuse in Scotland.
The union has also launched a national newspaper and digital Facebook advertising campaign to alert Amazon workers that they can blow the whistle and expose poor treatment free from reprisal by calling 08000 141 461 or visiting: actiononamazon.org/hotline/. And as well as unfurling a giant banner at Edinburgh Castle today; campaigners will also produce a banner at George Square in Glasgow at 2pm.
Dunfermline is home to a major Amazon fulfilment centre and the union say that the campaign is aimed at securing a ‘new deal’ for workers at the centre as well as other centres across the UK including other Scottish bases in Gourock, Inverclyde and at Bathgate in West Lothian. Unite hopes that a‘ new deal’ will include a union and a greater share of amazon’ s enormous profits.
The campaign is being launched at a time when poor working conditions for Amazon workers are being placed at the forefront of media coverage in the Western world.
Just last week it was reported that amazon workers are being forced to urinate in bottles and defecate in bags in the US due to working conditions and time constraints.
Unite says that the online retail giant has stopped any attempts by workers to gain a collective voice of their own.