Quote from Sharon Von Etten

You'd better have something good to say if you've got a roomful of people who've paid to see you.-Sharon Von Etten

Quote from John Cena

Be loyal to those who are loyal to you.And respect everyone,even your enemies and competition.-John Cena

Amazon warehouse workers skip bathroom breaks to keep their jobs, says report-theverge.com

Amazon warehouse workers skip bathroom breaks to keep their jobs, says report

54 comments

In the UK, an undercover reporter and a labor survey exposed harrowing work conditions

By Shannon Liao@Shannon_Liao Apr 16, 2018, 2:11pm EDT

Amazon warehouse workers are forced to pee in bottles or forego their bathroom breaks entirely because fulfillment demands are too high, according to journalist James Bloodworth, who went undercover as an Amazon worker for his book, Hired: Six Months Undercover in Low-Wage Britain. Targets have reportedly increased exponentially, workers say in a new survey revealed over the weekend, and as result, they feel pressured and stressed to meet the new goals.

Workers who pick up products for delivery at a warehouse in Staffordshire, UK use bottles instead of the actual toilet, which is located too far away, Bloodworth reported. They are afraid of being disciplined for idling and losing their jobs as a result, he added. Bloodworth told The Sun in an interview that the warehouse resembled a prison or an airport, with high security scanners that check workers for banned items like hoodies, sunglasses, and phones, and other employees who pat down workers to check for stolen goods.

Bloodworth’s findings are in line with first-hand accounts collected in the survey by worker rights platform Organise, which reported that 74 percent of workers avoid using the toilet for fear of being warned they had missed their target numbers. Rising goals have also taken a toll on employees’ mental health, as 55 percent of them report having suffered depression since working at Amazon. Over 80 percent of workers said they would not apply for a job at Amazon again.

Amazon apparently doesn’t allow employees enough time for breaks, let alone sick days, and that also includes individuals who may be pregnant. “From their point of view, we don’t have the right to be ill,” one worker who is a parent wrote anonymously in the Organise survey. Another worker said that although they had presented a sick note for being ill, their supervisor still called a meeting to discuss their conduct. An anonymous source close to the situation told The Verge that Amazon didn’t monitor toilet breaks and that it offered private medical insurance to its employees.

“I had a fit at work and was taken to the hospital. The next day, someone rung me and asked why I was not in work. I explained to them, but it was still marked, ‘no call, no show,’” wrote another employee from a different warehouse in the UK.

Workers described the breaks as one 30-minute, unpaid break, and two 15-minute paid breaks, which is a similar structure to what many US state labor laws require regarding break times. But despite having legally compliant break times, workers noted they had to walk quite a distance from their main work area to the break area, which greatly diminished how much time they had left to rest.

Amazon said in a statement to The Verge, “Amazon provides a safe and positive workplace for thousands of people across the UK with competitive pay and benefits from day one. We have not been provided with confirmation that the people who completed the survey worked at Amazon and we don’t recognize these allegations as an accurate portrayal of activities in our buildings.”

The company continued by saying, “We have a focus on ensuring we provide a great environment for all our employees and last month Amazon was named by LinkedIn as the [seventh] most sought after place to work in the UK and ranked first place in the US. Amazon also offers public tours of its fulfillment centres so customers can see first-hand what happens after they click ‘buy’ on Amazon.”

Quote from Marilu Henner

Silence and solitude are more distracting to me than chatter and commotion.-Marilu Henner

Quote from Kris Carr

Sleep is the best time to repair,but it's hard to get a good night's rest when we don't dial the inner chatter down.-Kris Carr

Expo 2010

Expo 2010 was held in Shanghai.

Expo 86

Expo 86 was held in Vancouver.

410th list of 10 French songs you like

1.Kate-Yvan Dautin
2.Moi Seule-Anita Morales
3.Ne Joue pas les Enfants-Peggy March
4.Tant de Nuits-Gérard Baqué
5.Je vivrai seule-Ginette Reno
6.Il ne veut pas être dragueur-Hédika
7.Géneral Sable-Regina Grant.(This song is a French version of the 1960 original Elvis Presley song 'BIG BOOTS')
7.Un Collier de Tes Bras-Regina Grant
8.Pour Votre Amour-Regina Grant
9.Comme L'Eau qui Coule(1962)-Maguy Marshall
10.Va-T'En Vit' Mon Amour-Marpessa Dawn
10.Go Teddy Go-Teddy Raye et ses Teddy Boys

Quote from Susanna Clarke

I have a scholar's love of silence and solitude.To sit and pass hour after hour in idle chatter with a roomful of strangers is to me the worst sort of torment.-Susanna Clarke

Quote from Mose Allison

The things that matter don't mix with idle chatter.-Mose Allison

Quote from MIke Bell

The chatterer reveals every corner of his shallow mind.-Mike Bell

Two great websites about justice

1 www.ethicaltrade.org
2 www.equaltimes.org

Quote on ego

Ego cannot be annihilated,but it can be tamed.-Michael Beckwith

Quote from Suzanne Brockmann

Dare,dream,dance,smile,and sing loudly!
And have faith that love is an unstoppable force!-Suzanne Brockmann

Quote from Michael Bernard Beckwith

Don't listen to what I'm saying.Listen to what I'm listening to.-Michael Bernard Beckwith

Quote from Michael Beckwith

Mediocrity always attacks excellence.-Michael Beckwith

409th list of 10 French songs you like

1.L'Amour c'est Tout(1961)-Hedika.(This song is a French version of the 1958 song 'LOVE IS EVERYTHING' by Carl Dobkins)
2.Hey Petite Angele-Les Vautours
3.Un Ange Danse-Sophie Darel
4.Mon petit panier(1968)-Sophie Darel
5.Trois petites notes de musique-Sophie Darel.(featuring Jean Leccia et son orchestre)
6.Je suis le disque-Sophie Darel.(featuring Jean Leccia et son orchestre)
7.Les Cocottes en papier-Sophie Darel(featuring Jean Leccia et son orchestre)
8.Voyage de Noces-Sophie Darel(featuring Jean Leccia et son orchestre)
9.Le Ballon Bleu-Sophie Darel
10.Le Bouquet Blanc-Sophie Darel

Quote from Rachel Carson

As crude a weapon as the caveman's club,the chemical barrage has been hurled against the fabric of life.-Rachel Carson

408th list of 10 French songs you like

1.Ours En Peluche-Régina Grant
2.La Complainte de Lola Lee(1970)-Denise Filiatrault
3.Don d'Amour(1964)-Denise Filiatrault
4.Dansez-vous le Charleston,Heston?-Denise Filiatrault
5.Chanson d'Amour de Roberta(1964)-Denise Filiatrault
6.Miss Calypso(1958)-Denise Filiatrault
7.Bleu ce ciel bleu(1965)-Denise Filiatrault.(This song is a French version of the 1964 song 'NAVY BLUE' by Diane Renay)
7.Moi,mes souliers(1950)-Félix Leclerc
8.Adios Amor-Pier Béland
9.Moi sans toi-Pier Béland
10.Ne joue pas avec mon cœur-Pier Béland
10.Mon Mari c'est Frankenstein-Nicole Paquin

'Ghettos' and gangmasters: How migrants are exploited in Italy's tomato fields-Very revealing article

'Ghettos' and gangmasters: How migrants are exploited in Italy's tomato fields

By Lorenzo D'Agostino, for CNN

Updated 5:33 AM ET, Wed March 21, 2018

Chat with us in Facebook Messenger. Find out what's happening in the world as it unfolds.

JUST WATCHED

The migrant workers exploited in Italy

Replay

MUST WATCH

The migrant workers exploited in Italy 03:31

Foggia, Italy (CNN)

In the southern Italian region of Puglia, the cliffs of the Gargano peninsula stretch out into the Adriatic Sea, offering breathtaking views. Its beaches are a magnet for tourists, but the area is also a key agricultural center.

Italy's processed tomatoes are sold around the world, and about a third of them are produced here, in the province of Foggia.

But far from its tourist-packed beaches, the region is scattered with makeshift camps, known locally as ghettos, that are home to a migrant workforce that plants and harvests its crops.

Working for the gangmasters

When local farmers need to find cheap, readily available hand-pickers, rather than employing them directly, they largely turn to middlemen known as "Caporali"-- gangmasters.

These gangmasters take a share of the workers' wages and often charge them for transport to the fields, as well as the food and water they receive while there.

Raffaele Falcone is a legal expert who works for CGIL, Italy's biggest labor union. He gives an example of how it works: "One big landowner in this area uses a gangmaster from Morocco, who has 10 vans and employs drivers from the ghetto.

The sex trafficking trail from Nigeria to Europe

"For each 300-kilo box of tomatoes filled by the workers, the landowner gives €5 ($5.80) to an Italian middle-man who deals with the gangmaster. After they both take their cut, the worker gets €3 ($2.5). Migrants are charged €5 for transport. Sometimes five more for food."

The legal minimum wage for laborers in this province is €53 ($62) per day. Working hours are limited to six-and-a-half hours a day, with a maximum of three hours overtime per day.

For months, Falcone and his colleagues have been visiting the camps to convince migrants to report the abuse they suffer.

Read more: Slave auctions in Libya

He says that since September he has logged 34 detailed stories of exploitation, where migrants were found to work under a gangmaster, with no employment contract, and for more than 10 hours a day.

Some cases involved violence -- one reason why most workers are too afraid to speak out, according to Falcone. Because they live in camps where law enforcement is virtually absent, he says, migrants are exposed to the retaliations of the gangmasters, who have the power to starve them for work and harm them physically.

The Runway Ghetto is located at the site of a former military airport.

Life in the 'Runway Ghetto'

Aly Muhammad, 19, left Mali when he was 16. Now he lives in a camp of migrant workers that has grown up next to Borgo Mezzanone, a rural hamlet of 500 residents. Here, a decommissioned military airport has grown into a makeshift community made of containers, tents and shacks, known as the "Runway Ghetto."

Different sections of the runway host different communities, with their own churches, mosques, corner shops, butchers and even nightclubs.

Muhammad says that during the year he spent in Libya on his way to Italy, he was imprisoned and tortured by militias in Tripoli until his family sent him the equivalent of $600 to pay for his release. But nothing angers him more than the treatment he received in Italy.

"How can a first world country keep people living like this?" he says.

Pastor Charles, at the Nigerian church in the Runway Ghetto.

Muhammad no longer toils in the fields, now working as a mechanic in his camp. Because he doesn't answer to farmland bosses, he says he is not afraid to speak of the abuse he witnessed during the short time he spent in agriculture.

"I have seen my brothers breaking their backs under the sun for 12 hours, and then being denied their wage," he says. "If they complained, the Italian landowner would beat them up."

CNN contacted the Interior Minister's special delegate assigned to deal with public order and health issues arising from the presence of the illegal camps. The office, after initially agreeing to an interview, said the special delegate was no longer available to discuss the issue of camp conditions.

Breaking the system

The governor of Puglia, Michele Emiliano, called upon businesses to break the gangmaster system by only employing migrants legally.

cfp italy nigeria sex trafficking_00013911

JUST WATCHED

Trafficked for sex in Italy

Replay

MUST WATCH

Trafficked for sex in Italy 02:50

Emiliano told CNN that farmers using gangmasters can have their land seized, the result of a tough anti-exploitation law passed in 2016, in the wake of the death of Italian grape-picker Paola Clemente. She was working in the fields of Puglia earning €2 an hour ($2.4) when she died of a heart attack, aged 49. The judicial investigation into her case found that her recruiters took advantage of her vulnerable economic conditions to extort her wage and impose extreme working conditions.

The new law means that those found to be hiring workers through gangmasters who exploit laborers can face up to eight years in prison. And the law offers victims of labor exploitation the same protection and resources available to victims of sex trafficking, such as access to professional training opportunities.

Trash litters the fields around the Runway Ghetto.

In July, in a landmark anti-slavery case in Lecce, at the southern end of Puglia, public prosecutors obtained heavy jail sentences for eight gangmasters and three landowners.

Court documents from the case, seen by CNN, reveal a scheme where landowners trafficked migrants directly from Tunisia to secure cheap labor. Every few weeks, gangmasters rotated the workers around camps and employers in other Italian provinces, including Foggia, hundreds of miles away from each other, in order to keep them vulnerable.

Judicial initiatives on a comparable scale haven't been seen in Foggia. But some landowners here feel that the new anti-exploitation legislation targets them unfairly. They say they require a flexible workforce, and because they don't speak the language or understand the culture of their migrant laborers, the best way of hiring them is through middlemen.

"Now we are treated as gangmasters" protests Enzo Smacchia, who owns 40 hectares of cultivated fields in Puglia and says he pays his workers a fair wage. "Why don't the authorities focus on all the crime and prostitution that goes on in the ghettos?" he says.

Farmer Enzo Smacchia says he pays his workers a fair wage.

Smacchia feels that medium-sized landowners like himself are victims of the retail sector, which he says has driven down prices for tomatoes, leaving migrant workers vulnerable to exploitation.

The public prosecutor for Foggia, Francesca Pirrelli, said: "Labor exploitation originates in the absence of job centers and in the great poverty of this province, which is driven by the prices made by the retail sector."

Pirrelli now heads a newly established task force dedicated to fighting the gangmaster system. She says there will be a major a crackdown next spring, when the harvest begins.

"The law now allows us to seize land, which is the most effective deterrent against this sort of crime," she said.

Emiliano says that Italy's Interior Minister made a personal commitment to provide witness protection to both companies and workers who come forward to report abuse.

Camp evictions

The regional government says it is taking a tough stance on the migrant camps. Emiliano describes these places as being "controlled by criminal organizations dedicated to prostitution, drug dealing and caporali."

Quote from Michael Beckwith

Don't look for your dreams to come true;look to become true to your dreams.-Michael Beckwith

Quote from Groucho Marx

But what makes wage slaves?Wages!-Groucho Marx

Quote from Jerome P.Fleishman

Our trials are tests;our sorrows pave the way for a fuller life when we have earned it.-Jerome P.Fleishman

407th list of 10 French songs you like

1.On M'Appelle Don Juan(1967)-Yves Martin.(This song is a French version of the 1966 hit song 'MELLOW YELLOW' by Donovan)
2.Oublie la pluie,Oublie le vent(1968)-Tonia
3.Moi Je Chante-Tonia
4.Pauvre de Moi(1965)-Pierre Sidor.(This song is a French version of the 1958 song 'POOR LITTLE FOOL' by Ricky Melson)
5.Ding et Ling-Nicole Paquin
6.J'Abandonne Mes Amours-Johnny Hallyday
7 Où Sont Tes Promesses(1962)-Dante
8.Dis-lui que je l'aime(1961)-Nicole Paquin
9.Allons dans les bois (1961)-Nicole Paquin
10.Comme un clou(1961)-Nicole Paquin

Quote from Kristen Schaal

I diagnosed my loneliness as premature empty nest syndrome.-Kristen Schaal

Quote from Jerome Fleishman

Most of us,swimming against the tides of trouble the world knows nothing about,need only a bit of praise or encouragement -and we will make the goal.-Robert Collier(1885-1950),American motivational author.-Jerome Fleishman

Textile waste in North America and shocking statistics

North America generates a lot of textile waste.85% of textiles in North America end up in landfills or are incinerated,according to 2018 statistics.
The average garment in North America is used only seven times before being thrown out,according to 2018 statistics.
We must reuse clothes and reduce clothes consumption and use clothes for longer.We must also repair textiles.

Great reggae song sung by a woman

Jamaican Fruit of African Roots-Sheila Rickards

Quote from Jon Gordon

Adversity is not a dead end but a detour to a better outcome than you can imagine!-Jon Gordon

Quote on negative expectations

Negative expectations are a quick route to dead-end thinking.-John C.Maxwell

Quote from Charles R.Swindoll

When we attempt to find meaning in the pursuit of pleasure,the commitment to a job ,or through plumbing intellectual depths,we all eventually find in each of these pursuits a dead end.-Charles R.Swindoll

Quote from Greil Marcus

It is a sure sign that a culture has reached a dead end when it is no longer intrigued by its myths.-Greil Marcus

Quote from Stephen Jay Gould

Precise adaptation,with each part finely honed to perform a definite function in an optimal way,can only lead to blind alleys,dead ends,and extinction.-Stephen Jay Gould

Quote from Nora Roberts

There are no dead ends,only detours.-Nora Roberts

Quote from Robert A.Heinlein

An animal so poor in spirit that he won't even fight on his own behalf is already an evolutionary dead end;the best he can do for his breed is to crawl off and die,and not pass on his defective genes.-Robert A.Heinlein

Quote from Byron Katie

Thinking what you want equals What's best for you is a dead end.-Byron Katie

Quote on science

Science is an intellectual dead end,you know?It's a lot of little guys in tweed suits cutting up frogs on foundation grants.-Woody Allen

Quote on self-pity

Self-pity is a dead-end road.You make the choice to drive down it.It's up to you to decide to stay parked there or to turn around and drive out.-Cheryl Strayed

Quote from Ellen Hopkins

Too much to take in,too much to purge.
Why must every memory,once sweet dead end in such ugliness?-Ellen Hopkins

Quote from Martin Luther

Power without love is reckless and abusive,and love without power is sentimental and anemic.-Martin Luther

Question on Tv quiz game show Jeopardy

Q.Who broke Ken Jennings' 74-game winning streak on the Tv quiz show game JEOPARDY and beat him finally?
Answer.Nancy Zerg

Quote from Ann Kent

Grief and greed are as inextricably entwined as love and marriage should be.-Ann Kent

Quote from Steven Redhead

Don't be drawn into any web of entanglement created by others.-Steven Redhead,LIFE IS SIMPLY A GAME.

Quote on guilt

Guilt is an indulgence,it entangles you in the past.-Gregg Hurwitz

Quote from Neri Oxman

If Enlightenment was the salad,Entanglement is the soup.-Neri Oxman

Quote from Ludwig Von Mises

If history could teach us anything,it would be that private property is inextricably linked with civilization.-Ludwig Von Mises

Quote on failure

Failure is a detour,not a dead-end street.-Zig Ziglar

Quote from John Maxwell

Failure should be our teacher,not our undertaker.-John C.Maxwell

Quote on life

Life is a dead-end street.-H.L.Mencken

Quote from Carl Sagan

Too much openness and you accept every notion,idea,and hypothesis which is tantamount to knowing nothing.Too much skepticism especially rejection of new ideas before they are adequately tested-and you're not only unpleasantly grumpy,but also closed to the advance of science.A judicious mix is what we need.-Carl Sagan

Quote from George Banister

Yes,I'm a pessimistic ,cynical,grumpy old git.You only get that way through great trial and error.-George Banister

Quote from Mariel Hemmingway

Babies have the power to make grumpy people happy because they love you no matter what.Dogs are that way too.-Mariel Hemminghway,INVISIBLE GIRL.

Quote from Michael Caine

Some men just want to watch the world burn.-Michael Caine

Quote from Facebook

I am so grumpy I am not even talking to myself.-Happy Living,FACEBOOK,March 21,2019.

Quote from Joe Biden

Don't tell me what you value,Show me your budget,and I'll tell you what you value.-Joe Biden

Quote from Facebook

I've been hiding from exercise! I'm in the fitness protection program.-Do You Remember,FACEBOOK,April 19,2019.

Pancreatic cancer

One in 74 Canadians will develop pancreatic cancer,according to March 2019 statistics.

Quote from Wilson Mizner

I hate careless flattery,the kind that exhausts you in your effort to believe it.-Wilson Mizner

Quote from Andy Kindler

You can't go wrong with pizza,unless it's terrible pizza.-Andy Kindler

Quote from Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Some men must follow,and some command,though all are made of clay.-Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Quote from Facebook

Adult peer pressure:seeing your neighbor mowing their yard.-Happy Living,FACEBOOK,April 17,2019.

Quote from Van Wyck Brooks

The creative impulses of man are always at war with the possessive impulses.-Van Wyck Brooks

Joke from Facebook about psychiatry

I went to the psychiatrist today.She told me I had a split personality and charged me 160 dollars.
I gave her 80 dollars and told her to get the rest from the other idiot.
-Happy Living,FACEBOOK,April 16,2019.

Provocative quote on the monarchy

The monarchy is finished.It was finished a while ago,but they're still making the corpses dance.-Sue Townsend,novelist.

Quote from Sue Townsend

Live with all of your senses.-Sue Townsend

Quote from Sue Townsend

Love is the only thing that keeps me insane.-Sue Townsend

slantedbuttrue

Tuesday, April 30, 2019

Quote from Sharon Von Etten

Quote from John Cena

Amazon warehouse workers skip bathroom breaks to keep their jobs, says report-theverge.com

Amazon warehouse workers skip bathroom breaks to keep their jobs, says report

In the UK, an undercover reporter and a labor survey exposed harrowing work conditions

Next Up In Tech

Command Line

Quote from Marilu Henner

Quote from Kris Carr

Expo 2010

Expo 86

410th list of 10 French songs you like

Monday, April 29, 2019

Quote from Susanna Clarke

Quote from Mose Allison

Quote from MIke Bell

Sunday, April 28, 2019

Two great websites about justice

Quote on ego

Quote from Suzanne Brockmann

Quote from Michael Bernard Beckwith

Quote from Michael Beckwith

409th list of 10 French songs you like

Quote from Rachel Carson

408th list of 10 French songs you like

'Ghettos' and gangmasters: How migrants are exploited in Italy's tomato fields-Very revealing article

'Ghettos' and gangmasters: How migrants are exploited in Italy's tomato fields

JUST WATCHED

The migrant workers exploited in Italy

MUST WATCH

Working for the gangmasters

Life in the 'Runway Ghetto'

Breaking the system

JUST WATCHED

Trafficked for sex in Italy

MUST WATCH

Camp evictions

Saturday, April 27, 2019

Quote from Michael Beckwith

Quote from Groucho Marx

Quote from Jerome P.Fleishman

407th list of 10 French songs you like

Friday, April 26, 2019

Quote from Kristen Schaal

Quote from Jerome Fleishman

Textile waste in North America and shocking statistics

Great reggae song sung by a woman

Thursday, April 25, 2019

Quote from Jon Gordon

Quote on negative expectations

Quote from Charles R.Swindoll

Quote from Greil Marcus

Quote from Stephen Jay Gould

Quote from Nora Roberts

Quote from Robert A.Heinlein

Quote from Byron Katie

Quote on science

Quote on self-pity

Quote from Ellen Hopkins

Quote from Martin Luther

Question on Tv quiz game show Jeopardy

Quote from Ann Kent

Quote from Steven Redhead

Quote on guilt

Quote from Neri Oxman

Quote from Ludwig Von Mises

Quote on failure

Quote from John Maxwell

Quote on life

Wednesday, April 24, 2019

Quote from Carl Sagan

Quote from George Banister

Quote from Mariel Hemmingway

Quote from Michael Caine

Quote from Facebook

Quote from Joe Biden

Quote from Facebook

Pancreatic cancer