Amazon is quietly transitioning its US warehouse workers to 10-hour graveyard shifts; labor experts say the move is to cut costs and pay for fewer benefits
The company has been quietly transitioning warehouse workers at Amazon warehouses nationwide to a 10-hour graveyard shift, known as the “megacycle.” Tweets: @josephfcox , @josephfcox , @selenalarson , @robzacny , @hamiltonnolan , @bigblackjacobin , @laurenkgurley , @katiedrumm , @emanuelmaiberg , @a_cado_appears , and @jason_koebler Tweets: Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : Workers given two weeks to decide. Obviously some wouldn't even be able to get to the shift if public transport is not operating after midnight. “It's not a real option. They're basically telling us 'you're fired.” https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/... Joseph Cox / @josephfcox : New: Amazon has been quietly transitioning warehouse workers to a so-called “megacycle” shift that starts at around 1AM and ends at lunchtime. Some workers told: take the 10.5 hour shift, which is not practical for mothers, other workers, etc, or lose job https://www.vice.com/... https://twitter.com/... Selena / @selenalarson : It is absolutely unconscionable how Amazon treats its workers. https://twitter.com/... Rob Zacny / @robzacny : This is a nightmare. I worked swing-shifts in a factory and the week of 12-8s was brutal. Just being mired in a 1-12 with no end in sight, doing a job that's way more intensive than most line production, is cruel. https://www.vice.com/... Hamilton Nolan / @hamiltonnolan : “Either work a 1 AM to noon shift or leave” is one of the best advertisements for unionizing Amazon warehouses I have ever heard. Excellent timing. https://www.vice.com/... Edward Ongweso Jr / @bigblackjacobin : “On January 25, hundreds of workers at an Amazon warehouse in Chicago were presented with a baffling choice: sign up for a ten-and-a-half-hour graveyard shift, or lose your job.” https://www.vice.com/... Lauren Kaori Gurley / @laurenkgurley : NEW: Amazon is quietly forcing warehouse workers across the country into a brutal 10-year graveyard shift, known as “megacycle.” I wrote an explainer about “megacycle” and how its upending Amazon workers lives nationwide. https://www.vice.com/... Katie Drummond / @katiedrumm : Amazon is offering warehouse workers an ultimatum: work a 10.5 hour, overnight “megacycle” shift, or lose your job https://www.vice.com/... @emanuelmaiberg : Amazon warehouse workers across the country are given an ultimatum: switch to a 10-hour graveyard shift or lose your job. https://www.vice.com/... Rip Cado / @a_cado_appears : I spent a summer working 6 hour graveyard shifts in college as building security, sitting behind a desk, and I was destroyed and exhausted after each shift. I cannot IMAGINE doing 10, let alone with hard manual labor https://www.vice.com/... Jason Koebler / @jason_koebler : NEW: Amazon has shut down one of its best-organized warehouses and is moving the workers to separate warehouses, where they will be forced to work a “Megacycle” shift, in which workers come in at 1 am and leave at noon https://www.vice.com/...