The death last month of a worker at an Amazon warehouse in Poland – the second recent fatality at the facility – has prompted concerns about working conditions. Local prosecutors have launched an investigation into manslaughter.
Amazon, which employs 23,000 people directly and 28,000 indirectly in Poland, launched legally required internal investigations and in both cases found the incidents to be medical issues. The firm said “appropriate procedures” were followed at the scene and added that there were 200 people trained in first aid on site.
But the wife of one of the deceased, as well as fellow workers and employees’ organisations, have linked the deaths to heavy workloads and the failure of managers to respond to concerns.
The most recent death was of Dariusz Dziamski, who worked at Amazon’s facility in Sady, near the western city of Poznań. The 49-year-old reportedly felt pain in his chest at the start of his 6 a.m. shift. The long-time employee was taken to the medical room and died soon after, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.
Earlier this month, Dziamski’s wife, Beata, told Głos Wielkopolski that her husband had raised concern with his superiors about the heavy workload for staff at the warehouse. “Many of them couldn’t keep up with the pace of work,” said Beata Dziamska, who had previously worked there herself.
“They treated people like trash,” an anonymous employee at the centre told the newspaper. Like Beata, he noted that Dziamski had asked for additional help to be provided to staff but was refused. “It was a culpable error” by management, he said.
Polish Amazon warehouse employee dies of overworking at 49 https://t.co/BHBhtMSCjM
– To nie było podejście człowieka do człowieka – twierdzi pracownik Amazona, który był świadkiem zdarzenia z 6 września. – Ten mężczyzna miał problem ze złapaniem oddech… https://t.co/eraaM9xMfH
— Symmetrical Data Security, LLC. (@SymDataSec) October 20, 2021
Dziamski’s death followed another last year of a 40-year-old woman who collapsed during a night shift. Rescuers took almost an hour to reach her, by which time it was too late, reports Gazeta Wyborcza.
According to workers from the Sady warehouse, a shift lasts 10.5 hours with two paid 20-minute breaks and a 35-minute unpaid meal break that needs to be worked off. They also said that pressure is added by constant monitoring by computers keeping track of every minute at the work station.
Maria Malinowska from the Amazon Employee Initiative in Sady told Gazeta Wyborcza that the two deaths were “not random events” but rather “the result of what the work looks like here”.
An @amazon worker in Poland has lost her job after publishing an account of the tough working conditions.
The day after publication she was informed that her temporary contract would not be renewed, despite having been told a few days earlier it would be https://t.co/aVfQvOVYfR
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 29, 2018
Malinowska argued that the company does not take responsibility for such events unless they are obviously linked to the workplace. “The simplest interpretation of the law used by employers does not qualify an accident as an accident at work until a brick falls on someone’s head,” said Malinowska.
“Darek [Dziamski] worked alone for a long time, although it was a job designed for several employees,” she said. “It’s hard physical work. You have to walk a lot, push a heavy cart and the boxes are constantly being lifted.”
The local district prosecutor’s office has launched an investigation into manslaughter in Dziamski’s case, reports Głos Wielkopolski. But no such investigation was opened following the first death.
Staff at an Amazon logistics centre near Wrocław are protesting today, including in demand of higher Christmas bonuses, saying that what they have received is "the lowest in years" and "less than half the amount paid [by Amazon] in western countries" https://t.co/9z7F50hyio
— Notes from Poland 🇵🇱 (@notesfrompoland) December 15, 2020
Amazon has operated in Poland since 2014. It now has ten fulfilment centres in the country, as well as the Amazon Technology Development Center in Gdańsk and the Amazon Web Services branch in Warsaw.
Amazon’s expansion in Poland has not, however, been without controversy. In 2018 and 2019, workers at its Polish facilities were involved in protests over pay and conditions.
During the pandemic, employees also expressed concern over insufficient safety precautions to protect them from infection.
Previously, Amazon’s facilities in Poland exclusively served foreign markets, but in March this year the company launched a Polish website to serve sellers and customers in the country.
As competition intensifies in Poland’s e-commerce market, where Amazon faces homegrown competitor Allegro, last week the company launched its Amazon Prime service offering free delivery and video streaming.
The service is priced at 49 zloty (€10.64) per year, which is the same cost as the Allegro Smart! service, which also offers free delivery.
Main image credit: Álvaro Ibáñez/Flickr (under CC BY 2.0)
Maria Wilczek is deputy editor of Notes from Poland. She is a regular writer for The Times, The Economist and Al Jazeera English, and has also featured in Foreign Policy, Politico Europe, The Spectator and Gazeta Wyborcza.
