Amazon Apologizes, Admits Their Drivers Pee in Bottles

Amazon finally admitted that some of their drivers pee in bottles during deliveries. Before they did, they took a swipe at Representative Mark Pocan (D-WI) who said they weren’t as progressive as they claimed. Afterward, the online giant had to take back their smugness and instead admit that these things did happen with their drivers.  

RELATED: Amazon Brings Back Policy That Penalizes Employees for Taking Long Breaks

Pocan: Drivers Pee In Water Bottles

Last March 24, Pocan tweeted that Amazon isn’t the progressive company they claim to be. “Paying workers $15/hr doesn’t make you a ‘progressive workplace’ when you union-bust & make workers urinate in water bottles,” he said. 

Amazon responded to Pocan’s tweet, saying he listened to fake news. “You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do, and have great wages and health care from day one,” the online company responded via Twitter. Instead, they suggested that Pocan do his job. “We hope you can enact policies that get other employers to offer what we already do,” Amazon tweeted. 

Amazon Makes A U-Turn

A few days later, Amazon had to make a U-turn. Not only did they admit that some drivers do in fact pee in bottles, but they also apologized to Pocan. They posted a long clarification on their company site that explained their earlier response. 

First, Amazon said that they replied incorrectly. “It did not contemplate our large driver population and instead wrongly focused only on our fulfillment centers. A typical Amazon fulfillment center has dozens of restrooms, and employees are able to step away from their work station at any time. If any employee in a fulfillment center has a different experience, we encourage them to speak to their manager and we’ll work to fix it,” the company wrote. 

Drivers Peeing in Bottles Is An Industry Wide Issue

Then, Amazon admitted they acted harshly on the tweet. “Our process was flawed. The tweet did not receive proper scrutiny. We need to hold ourselves to an extremely high accuracy bar at all times, and that is especially so when we are criticizing the comments of others.” Amazon said. 

In addition, they acknowledged that drivers do sometimes had to pee in bottles. But, they claimed the reason is the unavailability of restrooms or traffic. “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. This is a long-standing, industry-wide issue and is not specific to Amazon,’ the company posted. They promised to look into the issue. “Regardless of the fact that this is industry-wide, we would like to solve it. We don’t yet know how, but will look for solutions,” the post said. 

Finally, they ended the post with a straightforward “We apologize to Representative Pocan” sentence.

Pocan Brushes Off Apology 

Meanwhile, Representative Pocan tweeted a brushoff, insisting the company needs to do more. “Sigh. This is not about me, this is about your workers — who you don’t treat with enough respect or dignity. Start by acknowledging the inadequate working conditions you’ve created for ALL your workers, then fix that for everyone & finally, let them unionize without interference,” he wrote. Amazon has yet to respond to Pocan’s latest tweet.

Watch the OneIndia Channel video that reported Amazon issued an apology for earlier denying that some drivers pee in bottles| Oneindia News:

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Do you agree with Representative Pocan that Amazon needs to do more for its employees? Tell us what you think about the issue of delivery drivers peeing in bottles. Share your thoughts in the comment section below.