Name: Amazon admits its drivers sometimes have to pee in bottles
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Amazon admits its drivers sometimes have to pee in bottles

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Amazon has to Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) for a denying that it makes its workers urinate in water bottles.The controversy started with a by Pocan blasting Amazon for its treatment of workers—a topic of particular public interest as workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama were ."Paying workers $15/hr doesn't make you a 'progressive workplace' when you union-bust &amp; make workers urinate in water bottles," Pocan wrote."You don't really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you?" Amazon responded on March 24. "If that were true, nobody would work for us."Recode's Jason Del Rey that Amazon's aggressive response was encouraged by CEO Jeff Bezos, who had been frustrated Amazon wasn't pushing back hard enough against its critics.But the tweet turned into a PR fiasco for Amazon. The next day, Vice published a with the headline "Amazon Denies Workers Pee in Bottles. Here Are the Pee Bottles." It included a photo of bottles with an Amazon worker's urine in them.Vice noted that this was a common topic of discussion on the r/AmazonDSPDrivers subreddit. There are "&nbsp;of comments" with drivers lamenting their need to pee in bottles, hedges, and other things besides a toilet.Now Amazon has changed its tune. "The tweet was incorrect," Amazon on its website. "It did not contemplate our large driver population and instead wrongly focused only on our fulfillment centers."Amazon says that "a typical Amazon fulfillment center has dozens of restrooms, and employees are able to step away from their work station at any time."However, the company acknowledged that this isn't always true for its delivery drivers."We know that drivers can and do have trouble finding restrooms because of traffic or sometimes rural routes, and this has been especially the case during Covid when many public restrooms have been closed," Amazon wrote."This is a long-standing, industry-wide issue and is not specific to Amazon," the company added. Amazon says it wants to solve the problem: "We don't yet know how, but will look for solutions."Amazon appears to be right about that. Drivers for Uber, Lyft, and food delivery services have trouble finding bathrooms while on the job. Drivers for UPS and FedEx have similar difficulties. The problem has gotten worse in the last year as the pandemic has closed a large number of stores and restaurants.Amazon has been on the defensive in recent weeks as workers at its Bessemer fulfillment center vote on creating a union. Voting , but the National Labor Relations Board has not yet announced the results. The stakes are high for Amazon, since a successful vote could give a boost to similar efforts in other segments of Amazon's vast workforce. Amazon has .You must to comment.

Amazon has to Rep. Mark Pocan (D-Wisc.) for a denying that it makes its workers urinate in water bottles.The controversy started with a by Pocan blasting Amazon for its treatment of workers—a topic of particular public interest as workers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama were ."Paying workers $15/hr doesn't make you a 'progressive workplace' when you union-bust &amp; make workers urinate in water bottles," Pocan wrote."You don't really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you?" Amazon responded on March 24. "If that were true, nobody would work for us."Recode's Jason Del Rey that...

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Timothy B. Lee began his journalism career writing for Ars in 2007. He then spent time at the Washington Post and Vox before returning home to Ars in 2017. Today he covers technology policy, artificial intelligence and the future of transportation. He holds a master's degree in computer science from Princeton. He lives with his family in Washington, DC.

Timothy B. Lee

Ars Technica is a website covering news and opinions in technology, science, politics, and society, created by Ken Fisher and Jon Stokes in 1998. It publishes news, reviews, and guides on issues such as computer hardware and software, science, technology policy, and video games. Many of the site's writers are postgraduates and some work for research institutions. Articles on the website are written in a less-formal tone than those in traditional journals. Ars Technica was privately owned until May 2008, when it was sold to Condé Nast Digital, the online division of Condé Nast Publications.

Amazon admits its drivers sometimes have to pee in bottles

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