JAPAN Amazon deliveries, in Tokyo and Nagasaki a union was formed

Workers contest impossible deadlines and routes established by the algorithm. The pandemic has given e-commerce in Japan a significant boost: Last year, the three largest shipping companies delivered a record 4.68 billion packages.

Tokyo () – It is no longer just in Europe and North America. Now Amazon, the American e-commerce giant, has to deal with a workers movement that begins to organize to make their claims heard and assert their rights. A significant fact in a country that from the point of view of labor activism is among the least turbulent in the developed world.

The latest chapter in this story was written in Nagasaki, where on Monday 15 workers delivering packages for Amazon announced the founding of their own union. The delivery men ask for a standard contract that sets precise work schedules, raises wages and covers fuel costs.

At the moment the 15 workers are considered “self-employed”, with contracts that link them to the delivery companies that Amazon depends on. Japanese law does not provide them with any job protection in terms of working hours and overtime pay. What made working conditions even worse was the introduction of artificial intelligence to calculate deliveries. The criticism leveled at the algorithm is that it establishes impossible deadlines and itineraries.

“Artificial intelligence doesn’t take into account real-world conditions like rivers, railways or roads too narrow for cars,” said Sekiguchi Tatsuya of the Tokyo Union, which the Nagasaki workers have joined. “The result is unreasonable demands and extremely long work hours.”

Last June, 10 Amazon delivery drivers in Yokosuka, south of Tokyo, founded the first branch of the union. The origin of this decision is a very simple consideration: since the e-commerce giant sends delivery instructions directly to couriers and controls their working hours, they would meet the conditions to be considered as employees. “Amazon and the subcontractor tell us what to do,” the workers repeat.

Since the 15 Yokosuka couriers joined a union, their situation has improved a lot. The shipping company has come to the negotiating table and the 13+ hour workday is a thing of the past. However, Amazon continues to refuse to negotiate: “the delivery men are doing their job according to the contracts stipulated with our subcontractors and are not employees of our company,” says the American multinational.

Amazon last year greatly expanded its presence in Japan and plans to expand super-fast deliveries across the country by 2023. The pandemic has given a significant boost to e-commerce industry Japan, which has grown 20% since 2019, and last year the three largest shipping companies delivered a record 4.68 billion packages. To win this fierce competition. Amazon plans to expand its intermediate delivery stations by 60% by the end of 2022.

But many messengers disagree that the price of this fierce competition is the sacrifice of workers’ rights and promise to take action. Indeed, many other self-employed groups such as those in Yokosuka and Nagasaki are organizing to join the union. And the argument is always the same: if Amazon gives the orders, then you are working for Amazon.