Society's Child

Inside Amazon's fast-paced warehouse world: Workers are under pressure, afraid to take bathroom breaks

Nina Shapiro
The Seattle Times
Mon, 02 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC

Amazon warehouse workers afraid to go to the bathroom or take a sick day. Unattainable productivity targets. Constant surveillance. How accurate is author James Bloodworth's portrayal? A tour in Kent delivers some answers.

© Alan Berner / The Seattle Times
Amazon workers stand at their stations in a Kent warehouse, which employs 2,500 people who handle goods coming in and out. Computer screens are ubiquitous, giving workers information about their tasks and running updates on their rate per hour.

Working at an Amazon warehouse in the U.K., James Bloodworth came across a bottle of straw-colored liquid on a shelf. It looked like pee.

How could he be sure? "I smelt it," said the 35-year-old British journalist and author, talking about his new book "Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain." It was definitely pee, he said.

As he tells it, urinating into a bottle is the kind of desperation Amazon forces its warehouse workers into as they try to avoid accusations of "idling" and failing to meet impossibly high productivity targets - ones they are continually measured against by Big Brother-ish type surveillance.

It didn't help that the nearest bathroom to where he worked was four flights of stairs below.

Comment: See also:

Australian supermarkets work to prevent "bag rage" as plastics ban takes effect

Alison Bevege
Yahoo! News
Sat, 14 Jul 2018 12:46 UTC

Australia's biggest supermarket chains are scrambling to combat "bag rage" as frustrated shoppers vent their anger over the removal of single-use plastic bags.

One man put his hands around a supermarket worker's throat, the West Australian newspaper reported, while grocery stores are putting on more staff to help customers get used to the change.

The removal of single-use plastics is part of a national push to reduce waste. As of July 1, major retailers in all but two Australian states will be fined if they supply single-use plastic bags. National supermarket chain Coles, owned by Wesfarmers, on Sunday removed single-use plastic bags from its stores, shortly after rival Woolworths banned the bags on June 20.

Consumer complaints forced Woolworths to backflip on charging customers 15 Australian cents (11 U.S. cents) for a reusable plastic bag, with the retailer now offering them free until July 8.

Comment: See also:

German reporter: 'Old habit of imagining Russia as morally inferior is hubris'

RT
Sun, 15 Jul 2018 20:00 UTC

A journalist from the leading German paper Die Welt has criticized the media for painting an unfairly grim picture of Russia during the FIFA World Cup and for boycotting the tournament. She called this an example of hubris.

Die Welt reporter Kathrin Spoerr called out the press on what she believes is the unfair treatment of Russia during the nation's hosting of the World Cup. The journalist says she is thrilled to see the final game on Sunday, but also recalls how the German media was riddled with negative stories on Russia, and how some of her colleagues declared 'private boycotts' of the tournament for political reasons.

"Ahead of the final, I'm wondering about two things. First, will I have enough popcorn? Second, what horrible stories on Russia will be reported before the kick-off?" Spoerr wrote on Saturday.

Israel and Gaza reach ceasefire, escalation ends

Sputnik
Sat, 14 Jul 2018 23:03 UTC

A ceasefire have been reached between Israel and armed groups in Gaza Strip, ending the current round of escalation on the border, Al Arabiya reported.

The groups have announced a ceasefire with Israel after two days of clashes, the news channel said.

Reuters also quoted an anonymous Palestinian official familiar with talks as saying that "Egyptian and international efforts succeeded in ending the current round of escalation."

Previously, the Israeli Air Force reported making airstrikes on military targets in the Gaza Strip, while the IDF reported that Hamas fired 17 missiles from Gaza.

Tensions on the Israeli border with Gaza had flared up after the start of the Great March of Return rally, which began on March 30, in order to mark the 70th anniversary of the foundation of Israel and protest the moving of the US embassy to Jerusalem. Over 60 Palestinians were reported killed and thousands of others wounded by the Israeli forces in the course of two days amid raging hostilities.

Comment: A ceasefire...until another day.

The Irish senate passes bill that bans products from Israeli settlements

Yumna Patel
Mondoweiss
Sat, 14 Jul 2018 00:00 UTC

The Irish senate has voted in favor of a bill banning the importation of products from illegal Israeli settlements in the occupied Palestinian territory, paving the way for the country to become the first EU nation to enforce a boycott of Israeli settlement goods.

The bill, which passed on Wednesday in the upper house of the Irish parliament, the Seanad, will need to make its way through more Seanad votes and then the lower house before becoming law. The bill passed with 25 lawmakers voting in its favor, 20 against it and 14 abstaining.

Palestinian officials and activists supporting the Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movement hailed the move as courageous.

Comment: More countries need to step up and follow Ireland's lead.

What the new integrationists refuse to see

Coleman Hughes
City Journal
Sun, 15 Jul 2018 18:44 UTC

As black-only schools have proved for more than a century, separate is not necessarily unequal; inequality flows from other factors.

A liberal consensus has settled on the view that American schools must be more thoroughly integrated before black and Hispanic students can perform at the level of their white peers. The New York Times editorial board, for instance, recently described the city's elite high schools as "profoundly segregated," a state of affairs that calls to mind "the spirit of Jim Crow." Nikole Hannah-Jones, whose long-form reporting on the subject earned her a MacArthur Genius Grant last year, detailed her experience as a black mother trying to find a school for her daughter in an "intensely segregated" system.

Whether Hannah-Jones and her ilk are right about the existence of segregation depends on what one means by the word. As it was once understood, "segregation" referred to the state-enforced policy of keeping whites and blacks apart; if progressives are worried about this kind of segregation, then they missed the boat by about 60 years. But Hannah-Jones is referring to segregation 2.0, under which-despite the existence of numerous laws and government programs actively promoting racial inclusion in housing and education-people of different ethnic and racial groups still tend to live among one another, for various reasons. Under this new definition, America is hopelessly segregated--but then, so is Manhattan's Chinatown, so is Brooklyn's Hasidic-Jewish enclave, and so are most other neighborhoods on earth.

Woman found alive 1 week after driving off a cliff in California's Big Sur

RT
Sun, 15 Jul 2018 08:53 UTC

In a survival story fit for Hollywood, a woman has been found alive a week after she plunged off a California cliff in her jeep. The woman survived by drinking her wrecked car's radiator water until she was discovered by hikers.

Angela Hernandez, 23, was found on Friday after hikers noticed her Jeep Patriot SUV partially submerged at the bottom of a cliff in the Big Sur area. She was rushed to a nearby hospital by helicopter. The Oregon woman was conscious but had a shoulder injury and appeared to have suffered a concussion, police said on Saturday.

Hernandez told investigators that she plunged off the 200 ft (60m) cliff after swerving to avoid hitting an animal on Highway 1. She had been driving on the scenic coastal road from her home in Portland to Los Angeles.

The 23-year old stayed alive by "drinking water from the radiator of her vehicle," but was lucky to survive the fall at all, according to Monterey County Sheriff's Office spokesman John Thornburg.

Thousands protest against Israel's 'racist' nation-state bill in Tel Aviv

RT
Sun, 15 Jul 2018 17:13 UTC

Thousands of people have taken to the streets of the Israeli capital in protest against the so-called nation-state bill, which, they say, would enable ethnic segregation. The controversial bill also drew criticism from US Jews.

Demonstrators marched through the streets of Tel Aviv chanting: "Full equality and no less," "Jews and Arabs refuse to be enemies" and "The nation bill is a disaster," according to witnesses.

"The Nation-State Law would turn racism, discrimination, and segregation into an inescapable part of our lives. More than that - racism and discrimination are becoming desired and central in the State of Israel. The Nation-State Law will bring exclusion and damage to minorities to terrifying levels we have never seen before. Our stance is clear: all citizens -all- are equal," the organizers of the rally stated, as cited by the Jerusalem Post.

Comment: The Nation State law seems to just be making everything that Israel has stood for and put into practice since its inception official.

Heavy-handed tactics: US officers kill man with bulldozer in botched marijuana bust

RT
Sun, 15 Jul 2018 10:58 UTC

A Pennsylvania trooper and a game officer accidentally bulldozed a suspected cannabis grower during a hot pursuit through a field. The USA's largest marijuana advocacy group has questioned police tactics after the tragic death.

The bizarre and tragic incident unfolded on Monday morning when a Pennsylvania Game Commission employee, operating a bulldozer, noticed a car parked in a field on the game lands of Penn Township. After detecting an "unusual activity" by two men, the state employee called the police.

When reinforcements arrived the two suspects tried fleeing the scene. Officers managed to capture 54-year-old David Brook Light, from Sinking Spring. The other man, Gregory A. Longenecker, 51, from Reading, attempted to escape through the field.

Police called-in a chopper to locate the fugitive in the thick underbrush, and then used the bulldozer to pursue the suspect. However, unable to clearly see Longenecker, they accidentally ran him over.

Comment: See also: Senate approves bill to legalize hemp, introduces bill to decriminalize cannabis

Woman kidnapped and raped by Michigan cop files lawsuit

Jack Burns
The Free Thought Project
Sun, 15 Jul 2018 15:24 UTC

A Michigan woman, who claims she was raped by former Covert Township police officer Erich Fritz, is now suing the former officer as well as the township. Fritz, acting in his duties as a Covert Township police officer, pulled over the car in which Melissa McMillan was a passenger in July of 2016. But instead of taking McMillan to jail, Fritz took her to a motel where he allegedly kidnapped and raped her.

The case went to trial in 2017 with McMillan highly dissatisfied with the slap on the wrist the former officer received. Fritz was originally charged with sexual assault and kidnapping. Fritz' lawyers successfully plea bargained helping to get the officer out of the kidnapping and sexual assault charges. He ultimately pleaded "no contest" to "unlawful imprisonment." Fritz maintained the sex between he and McMilan was consensual. The judge sentenced Fritz to a year in jail with one day of time served. At sentencing, McMilan addressed the court saying:

[Fritz] knew I was highly intoxicated yet he used that as a selfish opportunity...My life has been forever changed. Every aspect of my life has been affected. My children who struggled, my friends, family and loved ones who have watched me through a year of hell...Though the victim said she's grateful Fritz is off the police force, one year in jail is not long enough...I feel you did not get the full punishment that you deserved, but your friends, family, the public and most importantly you will always know what you did," she said to Fritz...You will never be a police officer again, and for that I'm grateful.

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Society's Child

Inside Amazon's fast-paced warehouse world: Workers are under pressure, afraid to take bathroom breaks

Australian supermarkets work to prevent "bag rage" as plastics ban takes effect

German reporter: 'Old habit of imagining Russia as morally inferior is hubris'

Israel and Gaza reach ceasefire, escalation ends

The Irish senate passes bill that bans products from Israeli settlements

What the new integrationists refuse to see

Woman found alive 1 week after driving off a cliff in California's Big Sur

Thousands protest against Israel's 'racist' nation-state bill in Tel Aviv

Heavy-handed tactics: US officers kill man with bulldozer in botched marijuana bust

Woman kidnapped and raped by Michigan cop files lawsuit

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