Amazon Check: Application about urgent inspection State Inspection Work and the Border Guard at Amazon was submitted by the Minister of Labor Agnieszka Dziemianowicz-B±k. This reaction to the report OKO.Press, which describes how people are hired to clean Amazon warehouses. “False volunteering and employee exploitation?” – we read in the minister's entry.
Volunteering at Amazon: OKO.Press described the practices of Dussman, an Amazon subcontractor that maintains industrial facilities. The cleaners signed suspicious contracts that turned out to include a volunteer contract. Further suspicions were raised about transfers received by people employed at Polish Dussman branch. Although the final amount is the same, it is divided into three parts. A transfer for remuneration is only a few hundred zlotys, just like a transfer for reimbursement of expenses. The largest part are transfers for several thousand zlotys signed as social assistance.
Problematic contracts: People employed in this way, mainly migrants, are worried that the contract constructed in this way will not allow them to obtain a residence card or that they will receive a penalty for it. Dr. Tomasz Lasocki from the Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences of the Warsaw University of Technology points out that in this way the employer saves on insurance premiums.
Changes on the labor market: Dziemianowicz-Bąk also informed that last week the Council of Ministers adopted an act that will make counteracting such practices easier and more effective. “The project will soon be debated Sejm. But control measures should be taken as soon as possible! Because the safety of all workers is always a priority,” we read.
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