Make Amazon Pay

WHAT’S WRONG WITH AMAZON?

Amazons’ massive expansion in Canada has been bad for workers, including CUPW members. If Amazon continues to grow unchecked, this will threaten our members’ jobs security!

Setting Unsustainable Industry Standards

Amazon is increasing the number of same day delivery centres. The average time for products to move through the facility is about 11 minutes, over an hour faster than traditional fulfllment centers.

Working at this pace does not allow for breaks and workers have reported that the job is not only physically exhausting but also psychologically distressing. This pace is simply not sustainable

Workers’ Rights

For a company valued at over a trillion dollars, its warehouse workers and delivery drivers, the vast majority of its workforce, earn less than a living wage.

Amazon has the highest injury rate of any employer in the warehousing industry. In 2022, 1 in 5 delivery drivers were injured on the job. Increasing the speed. Conditions are so brutal that the average warehouse employee lasts 8 months.

The company uses data tracking and quota systems to squeeze every last ounce of proft out of workers. Those that don’t fulfll the quotas are fred! Amazon has also spent $14 million on anti-union consultants.

Tax Avoidance and Subsidies

Amazon gets billions of dollars in public subsidies, receiving almost

$9 billion (USD) in taxpayer money globally since 2012. By using shell companies and tax havens, Amazon pays roughly 7% tax globally. This is money that could go to school, hospitals, or public infrastructure projects!

Pollution

Amazon generated 321 million KG’s of plastic packaging in 2021, with roughly 11.8 million KG’s ending up in waterways and oceans.

Amazon generated 71.27 million metric tons of CO₂ in 2022. This doesn’t even include the carbon emissions generated by its manufacturers and suppliers!

AMAZON AND CANADA POST 

Canada Post has been delivering Amazon parcels since the website launched in Canada in 2002. Processing and deliveries of Amazon product by Canada Post peaked around 2020. It was at this time that Amazon rolled out its delivery service partner (DSP) program. 

DSP’s are subcontracted businesses that only deliver Amazon product. They are given trucks by Amazon, have Amazon uniforms, and use Amazon’s software to carry out deliveries, but they are not Amazon employees. This allows Amazon to easily take on and drop contracts and avoid unionization. 

Amazon’s DSP network is growing. There are more than 3,000 DSPs around the world, employing more than 275,000 drivers, delivering more than 10 million packages per day. 

Amazon currently has 19 fulfllment centres and more than 40,000 workers in Canada. 

Amazon’s massive expansion is a risk to Canada Post’s business model, and in our opinion, a risk to CUPW members’ jobs. 

HOW CAN WE KEEP AMAZON IN CHECK?

CUPW thinks that our governments have to step up and get Amazon to properly pay and protect its workers, pay its fair share of taxes and stop polluting the planet. 

Please sign the petition and tell your members of Parliament to Make Amazon Pay! 

You can also boycott Amazon by using online shopping alternatives, or by shopping locally. 

Most importantly, support unionization drives by Amazon employees wherever they occur! The more Amazon’s workforce is unionized, the less damage Amazon can cause!