Amazon Australia denies paying workers $10 a day, rejects safety criticism

Amazon Australia has rejected claims it places ‘unreasonable’ demands on its workers and that it pays delivery drivers $10 per day.

Amazon Australia executives have denied paying staff as little as $10 per day after costs, and forcing delivery workers into dangerous situations while facing a grilling in parliament.

The Transport Workers Union (TWU) has accused Amazon Australia of failing to properly train its delivery drivers, some of whom where paid between $10-$15 per day.

The TWU said delivery workers’ safety was also endangered by demands for an “unreasonable number of deliveries in short windows”, describing Amazon Flex as “one of the most dangerous last-mile delivery options in the transport sector”.

But appearing before a senate inquiry on Thursday, Amazon insisted its contract partners, through which it hired around 60 per cent of its warehouse workforce, complied with Australian law.

He said Amazon Flex delivery partners were paid $108 for each four-hour block completed, or $27 per hour, though did not offer comment on whether workers were required to cover their own costs.

“No one who works for Amazon, or is working for Amazon, gets paid below the minimum wage. We say that categorically,” Amazon director of public policy Australia Michael Cooley said.

Amazon Australia Public Policy Manager Ryan Smith claimed all Amazon staff, employed directly or via an agency, were given adequate training and mentoring, which was “in our interest”.

But when pressed on documents leaked to Vice News, appearing to show Amazon surveilled the activity of unionised workers in the US, Mr Cooley did not respond to the allegation specifically.

He instead claimed Amazon maintained security to keep its employees and property safe “like any other responsible business”.

“Any attempt to sensationalise these activities, or suggest that we’re doing something unusual or wrong, is incorrect,” he said.

American Amazon web service designer Tim Bray quit the company in May 2020, claiming it had fired employees for speaking out about concerns over warehouse workers’ safety during Covid-19.

“The justifications were laughable; it was clear to any reasonable observer that they were turfed for whistleblowing,” he wrote in a blogpost announcing his resignation.

But Mr Cooley flatly rejected suggestions from Greens senator Mehreen Faruqi the company operated on a “culture of fear”.

“They’re untrue and they’re unmeritorious,” he said.