Over the last three years, the workforce at Amazon’s fulfilment centre warehouses in the US has doubled drastically. Slowly, these workers are starting to form a union in order to protest against the ill-treatment that they face.

Amazon’s global workforce touched over 613,000 employees globally based on the latest quarterly earnings report, which doesn’t include the 100,000 temporary employees who were hired by the company for the holiday season. Few months into the opening of Amazon’s first New York-based fulfilment centre in Staten Island, workers declared on 12 December the start of a union drive by taking the help from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.

The reason behind the formation of the union is many. First of all, the poor working condition of the workers is the foremost reason for the workers to support the union formation. Also, employers should be approving and understanding. They need to understand that employees are human beings and not robots. Hence, sometimes it might become difficult for a picker to pick 400 items per hour, picking every item every seven seconds.

Also, workers on getting injured won’t get the necessary care and treatment. With Amazon raising the hourly productivity rates, workers are required to meet it in order to keep their jobs secure. While in the summertime, one won’t get enough AC and neither heat in the winter months.

Amazon fulfillment centers are not the only segment of Amazon where workers initiated arranging efforts in 2018. The online retail giant acquired Whole Foods in August 2017 for $13.7 billion. All US hourly employees are paid $15 minimum wage, a chance for the career of one’s growth, industry-leading benefits, and offering hands-on training using evolving technology.