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Amazon Japan delivery drivers form union, claiming overwork

21 Comments

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An Amazon official said the company has "received the letter and is scrutinizing the content of their requests."

Does it really take much time to "scrutinize" the requests for appropriate pay, less punishing hours and bathroom breaks?

11 ( +15 / -4 )

they have been made to work excessively long hours, especially after the company last year switched to artificial intelligence to decide the number of packages to deliver and each driver's area of coverage.

This. Dont know this tech is developed/applied solely in Japan but it has always amazed me how precise J-tech can be when aiming to squeeze every drop of sweat out of their workers´ working hours. I could give a thousand examples. The whole country is tired.

4 ( +15 / -11 )

Kuroneko Yamato started to use outsourced drivers and delivery staff as well, to avoid having to pay benefits and better salaries.

I feel bad for Amazon drivers, they do look overworked when I see them running around 9pm to finish their delivery shift.

10 ( +13 / -3 )

Good, hopefully more workers from this and other companies will follow.

Enough of this garbage working class of Japan, just start making changes where needed. Stand up for yourselves already.

4 ( +8 / -4 )

Very good! hopefully this will generalize to the whole country, and it will include more companies that do similar things.

6 ( +8 / -2 )

What’s that about? Of course I know their bad severe situation in general but: It’s also formally and by law only on them privately if they strictly follow smartphone orders by someone they haven’t even a real contract with. No one is forced here, although I understand they want to exploit themselves and get all delivery orders and all money in the little pot. And of course everyone is sometimes in a situation of doing something for someone else who isn’t someone to like or who doesn’t always pay generously the maximum for the service. Do the job or do some other job, and in fact be happy that you are still offered such a lot of work and income chances, which many others don’t have.

-9 ( +0 / -9 )

I've worked as a truck driver delivering construction materials to sites. Its not just Amazon.

We used to work from 7:30- 9 or 10pm and a few times until 11pm. Being a delivery person in Japan is HELL ON EARTH. Don't do it.

-3 ( +3 / -6 )

Amazon is such a vulture capitalist company.......Bezos is the world's richest or 2nd richest man....his billionaire empire is built on the blood, sweat and tears of the downtrodden and enslaved. Him giving up all forms of payment for 1 year and re-distributing it to all employees below management level would be nothing to him but would be life changing for those employees.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

good step.

lets see how this will develop.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Couriers have reduced deliveries over the last few years from 7 time slots to 5 slots each day, but that still seems excessive. Morning and afternoon deliveries would be enough for most people and businesses, with possibly an early evening option.

Delivery boxes close to entrances also help to avoid drivers coming back to re-deliver a package.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Amazon delivers free and promises quick delivery. Others like Rakuten charge and take ages. So Amazon staff are overworked. They need more staff and better conditions.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Great!!..

Fight back!!!!..

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Hope the Amazon lockers become more of a thing. Feel bad for those guys going to someone's place 2-3 times and also having people complain if they are 30 minutes late or early for the arranged delivery time.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Honestly I'm not surprised. The Japanese Amazon service is so prompt there must be a horrible human cost. Time to start developing sentient robots.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Good for them. I hope they get the compensation they deserve.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

The driver can one more thing, take the parcles back to the distrabution centre. I have worked for a parcle delivery company years ago, it was awful, from the minute i left the yard the phone started to ring "where are you? what time will you" after a hour of this i just turned the phone off, it was a night mare and also dangerious constantly answering the phone. so I do feel for the delivery guys, some of them would be delivering around 200 packages a day, its exhausting especially if your in a large city where your up and down blocks of flats where the elivator does not work, if you manage to stick the job for 6 months, youl find it starting to get easier as youl know where the houses are, when you first get a new round trying to find places is so hard, its very time consuming. so good luck guys, the trouble is if there self-employed the company might say, well thanks for your service, but we no longer need you, and just get another bunch of guys to deliver parcles.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

I guess if you can't decide the hours, can't decide your pay, can't decided the charges for said delivery, then you're employed by amazon. or Uber Uber deliveries. All the work, risk and cost are placed on the driver.Get sick? no pay. get into an accident? No insurance! Can't take a day off when you want because of the algothrym? Then you're a slave to the share holders/company. Great to see some people are seeing the GIG and the "outsourcing" economy as a scam Good on them.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

and that outsourcing of delivery operations is a way to avoid signing labor contracts.

Yeah but Amazon's still playing by the rules, tho. And that's thanks to Japanese dodgie labor laws and its loop holes. Just like Nova teachers are "freelancers" but still work for the company, have to use their books and sell them to the students and use their facilities. Plus they have to pay the company rental money to allow teachers to use Nova books.

Also just like most English teaching positions, teachers work for a company and are "employees" but when it comes to paying med insurance, pension and taxes, all of a student they're not considered company employees but "self employed."

Dodgie Japanese labor laws full of loop holes.

0 ( +2 / -2 )

In order to make change someone has to rebel and make light of the changes they are going to bring forward. Perhaps if this gets a lot of attention maybe other employees in related type work or factories would do the same. Hopefully this will force companies to pay more instead of telling the employees take it or leave it. The mindset has to be nothing gets done and nothing moves until the group gets what they want. If the owners feel the pinch they will negotiate, because they will see orders being stacked up and their profit margins shrinking fast!!

1 ( +1 / -0 )

A primary reason I will not use Amazon is mistreatment of both warehouse employees and the drivers.

-1 ( +1 / -2 )

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