General Chat

Sadly they are not the only company to who force their staff to work in such a way that the deadlines set are nigh on impossible.

It it now becoming common practice in many 'service' jobs for quota to be set.

Even the humble check out 'girl' has to hit x amount of scans a minute.

It is the horrid world we live in.

:-(

Thanks Kucinta and Rollo the Red I'll watch it later

Probably too late for Shirley's daughter, but legally cancer counts as a disability, and therefore an employee with cancer has certain rights under the Equality Act (previously it was under the Disability Discrimination Act) , such as the right to 'reasonable adjustments'.

http://www.cancerresearchuk.org/cancer-help/about-cancer/cancer-questions/the-disability-discrimination-act-and-cancer

"These rights mean that you can negotiate for reasonable changes in your work or workplace. The term reasonable means that any changes or adaptations must be practical for your employer, in terms of cost and effects on other workers.

For example, if you need time off work for treatment and recovery your employer might allow you a period of leave and your job will still be there when you want to go back. Or it might be reasonable to have more flexible working hours so you can carry on working. And the Act also gives you legal protection if you feel your employer has treated you unfairly.

You don’t have to tell your employer you have cancer. But if you don’t tell them, they can’t make any changes to your job or workplace. You can ask your employer to keep the information confidential so only people you agree to have this information are told."

The thing is her company NEVER paid her any sick pay . she only got her NHS sick pay so it wasnt costing her company any money.

She knows they didnt employ anyone to cover her job either

Its quite common there is even a HR term to cover it "non culpable inefficiency'' and there doesn't seem any way to avoid it even if you are genuinely ill :-(

Our daughter had 6 months chemo for Hodkinsons Lymphoma. She works for a well known Dover based ferry company .

Their usual ploy was to sack the long term sick . She is very good at her job so her absence was tolerated.

After her chemo finished she had monthly /3 monthly checks at the hospital .was left with extreme exhaustion and peripheral nerve damage to her hands and feet from the chemo. as well as no hair!

The Company were harassing her all the time to get back to work . She was able to show she couldnt , then six months after her chemo finished they said come back part time or you are sacked.

She went back not feeling at all able and their part time lasted two weeks then she was told full time or you are gone. You are lucky we kept your place open!!!

I was appalled . Thought genuine sick meant an employer had some duty of care to an employee.

She still has the nerve damage ,probably now permanent, to her hands and feet

A major supermarket uses the off sick ruse to get rid of staff too.............one cancer sufferer I know was disciplined as she had "taken too much time off during chemo treatments*.

The added stress didn't help her one bit!! She was signed off by her GP every time, but that was completely ignored by the unfair system currently in place.

My son-in-law, in a small engineering firm, was also called in for a verbal warning as he had had 6 days off sick in 12 months, next step a written warning.....he is currently looking for a job elsewhere before he hands in his notice. :-( :-0 :-0

That made very sorry viewing. I buy a lot from Amazon their delivery is very good which now you can see why.

My only gripe with them was the excessive packaging they use .

Divided conscious now after seeing the news item . Will I or wont I use them still.

Probably will I am afraid because I like their prices etc

Think its repeated about 4.00am on Thursday on the BBC News Channel (I know I've caught it when I've been up at that time)

Alas I'm not that surprised.

My sister works for Center Parcs and it amounts to not much more than slave labour....

Sorry folks - I have received my much anticipated product today from said establishment.

It would take a tremendous downturn of customer orders for this employer to reconsider the working environment.

Similar to PayDay Loans probably.

Sad!

(4 Tenerife Sun)
The program is on iPlayer here:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b03k5kzp/Panorama_Amazon_The_Truth_Behind_the_Click/

If you are outside the UK you will not be able to watch it unless either (a) you take out a BBC iPlayer subscription (recommended) or (b) you use a proxy or Slingbox.

It was Panorama on BBC1 8.30pm Mon 25th Nov.

And presumably got picked up as an item on the news.

Thanks Ann, I don't think I'll be able to find that then

Wendy

My daughter worked as agency for Amazon in the run up to Christmas last year. When the place opened it was trumpeted as providing 1200 new jobs. Ithink about 100 where full time, rest agency. It was a absolute hellhole. Airport style security checks in and out. Long shifts on her feet all day. When packing you got the same amount of time to pack a CD as a five foot tall model giraffe! ie impossible to meet. Turn over of staff was huge. Most got sacked on the spot. and she was deleighted when it was her turn.

Andy

it was a news item on BBC

When was this on please and on what channel I would like to watch it on iplayer

I too have bought things off Amazon in the past but it made me think twice after watching that programme. Appalling way to treat staff but if they are from an agency they don't have many rights anyway, they are treated as expendable and as if they have no feelings or needs.

I felt sorry for the chap with the bookshops too, so many small bookshops have gone to the wall since internet shopping took over.

I wonder how many people watched the programme and decided to boycott Amazon. Probably a lot in principle but not many in theory as they want to make their money go as far as possible.

Lizx

Alas many companies employ similar attitudes towards their staff. when I worked for one of the big power companies I was instructed to sack someone who had been off sick after suffering a miscarriage (she was in her probation period so could have done so quite easily). I refused point blank and a few months later resigned myself. I did not want to be part of a management team who operated along those lines.

I watched it too! Just awful how they treat their staff. How can they give you a warning if you have had 3 days sick? Think that is against the law. Surely being ill isnt a sackable offence is it?

I do order things through A****N and always praised their efficiency but it didn't please me to see how the staff have to work and the conditions.

A real eye opener
Florence
in the hebrides. :-|