75ZT Community

Just recently there was a documentary about life for the workforce at one of the Amazon warehouses and it has raised a talking point at work among my colleagues.

We were all in more or less general agreement that the staff were worked excessively hard, even for a fit young man who was the secret tester.

The one notable dissenter was a chap who is hosting some Polish friends at the moment and who apparently commented along the lines of "Why do UK employees expect to get paid for a work shift and then complain when they are expected to work for their money." A further comment by the senior male member of the Polish family suggested that a mere 10 hour shift such as that shown on the documentary could well be considered easy money. OK, maybe there might have been some braggadocio but apparently the comments were made seemingly in good faith as it were.

Got me to wondering...

Have we lost the work ethic here in the UK? For manual work at least?

I work full shifts, so includes nights up to 12 hours. Because of the disruption I get shift pay to compensate me and my family; well the wife me wee dog. I enjoy it and am happy as it fits in with my lifestyle. A colleague was recently asked to do some overtime on one of the 12hr night shifts - double time££££. All he did was moan about being at work at night. Now depending on what happens one can be very busy or bored out of one's skull; either way it's very lucrative but he ho!. We actually struggle to get people to fill posts, especially the full shift ones.

We currently have the builders in and the one lad has almost built it himself. He's a single dad with a 4 year old daughter of whom he has full custody. It costs him a fortune in day care fees (£100/week) and he admitted that he could be on benefit but would rather work. A nice change to what we hear and see on an almost daily basis.

I think there's always been shirkers and workers.

Gary M.