Amid Holiday Shopping Season, Warehouse Workers Like Me Struggle To Survive | Opinion

When I started working at Amazon more than five years ago, I thought I had finally landed a job that would help me provide for and spend time with my family. At first, I made it home in time for dinner after every shift, working overtime only on rare occasions.

But when the coronavirus pandemic hit, my life changed dramatically. I, like so many other frontline workers at that time, was terrified to go to work. Even as the coronavirus began to spread, infecting many of my family members and killing people in my community, I knew I had no other choice but to go to work. I had bills to pay, so quitting wasn't an option.

Inside my facility, things went from bearable to bad. What had always been a fast-paced work environment transformed into the present nightmare situation, where my coworkers and I are not treated like human beings, but valued only for how quickly we are able to process packages for delivery.

As more and more people started relying on online shopping from the safety of their homes, the work increased exponentially for us at my facility. Since then, the new norm has become longer hours and higher volumes of orders, with low pay and little chance to request time off. I've even had to miss my son's doctor's appointments because I wasn't allowed to reschedule my work shift.

Now, my coworkers and I are trying our best to survive, but as the holidays approach, we are preparing for backbreaking work, excessive overtime, and no appreciation from management. We're forced to process thousands of (heavy, cumbersome) packages daily or risk losing our jobs. We compromise our mental and physical health with every passing hour—all in the name of enriching our billionaire corporate employer while we struggle to get by on low wages. Some of my coworkers are homeless because we don't get paid enough to make ends meet.

Before the pandemic, the "holiday rush" usually started before Black Friday and continued until early January. Known as "peak season" for Amazon associates, it's a time when our lives become a living nightmare.

Every peak season, we expected work would get busier as we rushed to get packages out the door so they'd arrive at people's homes in time for the holidays. We knew working overtime was a possibility because peak season was always a busy time. While the work was physically draining, we knew it was temporary and once peak season was over, we'd be back to our normal routine.

That is no longer the case.

Customers got used to online shopping and love the option of same-day delivery, so we're now processing up to 100,000 packages a day all year long and it's mandatory that we work an extra hour per shift, which extends our normal schedule and makes it impossible to make it home in time for dinner with our families or make any plans after work.

A new report shines a light on the brutal working conditions Amazon associates have to endure. A shocking 41 percent of workers reported they have been injured while working at an Amazon warehouse, and 69 percent have had to take unpaid time off due to pain or exhaustion from working at the company.

It breaks my heart to know that while Amazon associates were risking their lives and losing their homes at the height of the pandemic, the company's profits tripled. And Amazon is still growing! At the close of the fourth quarter of 2022, Amazon announced 9 percent net sales growth for a staggering total of $149.2 billion. So why are there still Amazon workers who are homeless, living paycheck to paycheck? Why is the company still making bogus claims that it is "raising wages" when, if you adjust for inflation, the pathetic $1 per hour more it's offering for starting pay is essentially nothing? Why are we still being injured at deplorable rates?

But we refuse to give up. That's why we're calling for a real increase in our wages so that we can get paid enough to ensure we have a roof over our heads and food on our table.

We know the blame is not on consumers placing orders during holiday shopping season—working people are just like the rest of us who can't afford to pass up a deal. But we ask that you stand by us in our demands for higher wages and better working conditions. Our blood, sweat, and tears go into your dumbbells, holiday sweaters, lawnmowers, and much more getting to your doorsteps in record time. We are proud of the work we do, but the system needs to work for us. We can't go on like this.

Kimberly Robinson is a mother, Atlanta resident, and United for Respect leader fighting for change at her Amazon ATL 6 facility.

The views expressed in this article are the writer's own.