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Struggling Workers Found Sleeping In Tents Behind Amazon's Warehouse (thecourier.co.uk)
"At least three tents have been spotted in woodland beside the online retail giant's base," reports a Scottish newspaper -- hidden behind trees, but within sight of Amazon's warehouse, and right next to a busy highway. An anonymous reader writes:
Despite Scotland's "bitterly cold winter nights" -- with lows in the 30s -- the tent "was easier and cheaper than commuting from his home," one Amazon worker told the Courier. (Though yesterday someone stole all of his camping equipment.) Amazon charges its employees for shuttle service to the fulfillment center, which "swallows up a lot of the weekly wage," one political party leader told the Courier, "forcing people to seek ever more desperate ways of making work pay.
"Amazon should be ashamed that they pay their workers so little that they have to camp out in the dead of winter to make ends meet..." he continued. "They pay a small amount of tax and received millions of pounds from the Scottish National Party Government, so the least they should do is pay the proper living wage." Though the newspaper reports that holiday shopping has created 4,000 temporary jobs in the small town of Dunfermline, "The company came under fire last month from local activists who claimed that agency workers are working up to 60 hours per week for little more than the minimum wage and are harshly treated."
Amazon responded, "The safety and well-being of our permanent and temporary associates is our number one priority."
"Amazon should be ashamed that they pay their workers so little that they have to camp out in the dead of winter to make ends meet..." he continued. "They pay a small amount of tax and received millions of pounds from the Scottish National Party Government, so the least they should do is pay the proper living wage." Though the newspaper reports that holiday shopping has created 4,000 temporary jobs in the small town of Dunfermline, "The company came under fire last month from local activists who claimed that agency workers are working up to 60 hours per week for little more than the minimum wage and are harshly treated."
Amazon responded, "The safety and well-being of our permanent and temporary associates is our number one priority."
Nobody is forcing them to stay in tents, or to even work there at all. It's their choice. If it's so horrible surely they would leave for greener pastures. It sounds like this individual chose to do this out of convenience, nothing more.
You should be ashamed you pay so little for the goods and services that free-market economies provide. Calculate all the money you've saved and remit that total to the workers' salary augmentation fund.
I was told the economy in that area was great and that it would all be ruined by Brexit. If the economy is so terrific, how can Amazon find any unemployed people to work at their fulfillment centers?
We all know Amazon is a horrific company in regards to how it treats those at the bottom(most are) yet we will feel bad for these people for a few minutes and go right back to buying from Amazon.
they pay the minimum wage set by law, so whats the problem?
"The safety and well-being of our permanent and temporary associates is our number one priority."
When a big stink was made about all the counterfeit products on Amazon, maintaining customer confidence that all products are legitimate was your number one priority. When 80,000 Kindle users' passwords were dumped online, the security of your customers was your number one priority. Now you claim the safety of your employees is your number one priority.
This is all bullshit. You can only have one number one priority, and we all know that's MAKING MONEY.
No True Scotsman would use a tent... He'd cuddle up with some sheep behind the nearest hedge and wait it out...
Browsing at +1 - no ACs, I ignore their posts. So refreshing!
And they're working 60 hours a week.
If 60 hours a week at minimum wage is truly not enough to live on without needing to sleep in a tent, then maybe that country should consider raising the minimum wage. Otherwise, this is just a couple of people trying to save some extra money.
People are jumping past the questions as to whether the economy is worse now than in the past and why, to whether Amazon and other companies are paying what they should.
Dang, I wish I could live where the lows were in the 30s. That's downright tropical!
The Amazon is full of forrest dwellers.
At least they can wear a kilt rather than a grass codpiece and they haven't yet been issued with blowguns so they can hunt for their own food.
Make a great David Attenborough piece..... the lost celts in the Amazon(warehouse).
This is typical union lies. We don't charge employees for shuttle service, it is free and always has been.
Or moving the goal post? Anyone want to weigh in on exactly where the bullshit meter this falls?
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POTUS Trump will fix this. Excessive regulation is what is causing the problem, including the fact that they have to pay a "minimum" wage. By eliminating the minimum wage, the workers will compete to do the job, and this will weed out those unsuited to the task.
Also, all this excessive health insurance, workplace safety crap has to go.
Employees can purchase their own health and safety gear, and claim it on their taxes, a win-win-win situation.
POTUS Trump and the Republican party will MAGA!
if you're not paid enough, find another job!
A 2nd-order economic fallacy: "There are an infinite number of jobs".
It is a derivative of the base, first order fallacy: "infinite consumption".
We will always have infinite consumption because of ever increasing population (see: Malthus) and ever increasing wants and needs. No matter how much food or shelter you have, you will always want more. It's basic human nature.
Infinite consumption demands infinite production, which necessarily requires infinite labor.
If you're not paid enough, go find another job!
It's not as if they are in limited supply...
This sounds quite sinister: ... temporary associates is our number one priority."
"The safety and well-being of our
I remember now - the birthplace of Andrew Carnegie!
with that. This is only going to get worse too. One of the big things companies have been waiting for is the opportunity to bring the trillions of dollars they've had socked away in tax havens back into the global market without all those pesky taxes. The US, and specifically Obama, have been blocking this. Welp, we done just f'd that up. And what are they planning to do with all that money? Mergers and Acquisitions. Lots of 'em. Expect the amount of competition to drop like a rock.
/. None of us will.
Now, in the face of all that, what you _you_ going to do? You, Mishotaki. What, specifically will you do when there's nowhere else to buy bread except Amazon and it's $10, $20 a loaf? Maybe when you finally don't have enough to eat, maybe when it's you in one of those tents you'll finally wake up. But ya know what, by then it'll be too late. You'll be too busy surviving to do anything about it. You won't even have time and money to waste posting drek to
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The solution if anyone actually cared is $15 an hour minimum wage and paying a quarter more for your hamburger or $20 more in Amazon prime.
I suppose we should drive down to the Walmart and waste gas and all the bills to run the big box store and buy from those oppressed workers. We really should just buy from the farmers market and arts and crafts festival.
"She's a scientist and a lesbian. She's not going to let it slide." Orphan Black
Came across an article (https://www.fastcompany.com/3061686/free-shipping-is-a-lie) a few weeks ago that spells out part of the problem: Amazon loses around 45% of all shipping costs. They can take part of the hit because they have so much volume, but it also has to be paid for somewhere...and how they treat their staff is an obvious area in this instance.
Full disclosure: I also work for an online shop, and we struggle with the idea of 'free shipping'. Since we deal with food, our margins are already low, plus we ship a lot of refrigerated items, so a lot need expedited delivery. In the US it's not so bad (seems like $8 will get many packages just about anywhere in 2 days), but here in Canada, shipping fees are brutal -- even shipping in our own city is a minimum of about $10 -- and no doubt most people expect free shipping as well. As the article points out: it's just not sustainable. 'Free shipping' fees are paid elsewhere down the line.
Negotiate? How much power do you think an individual has as compared with the corporation currently? There is no negotiation... you take it or leave it.
Those poor guys camping in the woods could be actually forced to take the job OR lose unemployment benefits.
Not an easy choice to make ....
From the first linked article: ... It's hard work at this time of year, of course it is. ... We just focus on customer obsession, making sure we deliver the customer promises. Whatever we've promised a customer in terms of what's going to be delivered, we make sure that it is processed and shipped on time.
...
... Criticism continues from some quarters about working practices, but Amazon general manager Paul Ashraf insists that the company cares about its staff -- and is disappointed by the perception some people have of the business.
"I think from my point of view we're a global brand, so that brings headlines in relation to what people think about Amazon and this place," he told The Courier. "From my point of view I try to focus on what's within my control. I focus very heavily, especially in peak times, on associate experience.
While we're doing that, we make sure we keep people here safe, so it's all about safety first, and make sure that from an associate experience point of view we try and have as much fun as possible. We had DJs on every floor on Black Friday, we had tombolas, we had raffles that people get free entry into -- it's all about keeping associates safe and having fun."
If the conditions are that bad, QUIT, go somewhere else! "But there isn't anything else"...and that's Amazon's fault?
In late-stage capitalism, living indoors is optional for workers.
"They live in tents because they've chosen to live in tents. Now pass me some more frog legs and foie gras."
CEOs and gangster capitalists are going to be so shocked when they see mobs building guillotines outside their office windows. The recent elections - Brexit and Der Trumpen - have moved us toward that day. What will voters who said, "Fuck it, I'm voting for Trump to burn the whole motherfucker down", say when Trump doesn't improve their lot (like the 1100 Carrier workers whose jobs are going to Mexico despite Trump's much-trumpeted "deal")? Hell, they're going to skip right to, "Let's burn this motherfucker down ourselves."
You are welcome on my lawn.
Price alone isn't a justification for such conditions. If anything, price-related justifications show a callous disregard for those that do work (or seek it).
If anything, this is a reason why permatemping (what Amazon is doing), classification abuse (hiding behind a third party), and zero-hour work (the ultimate in precarious work when combined w/ UK-style workfare) needs to DIAF and the remains be shoveled into the nearest black hole.
Twitter supports and protects racists - by smearing their critics with the "Hate Speech" label.
Amazon charges its employees for shuttle service to the fulfillment center,
Jesus christ, Portal was intended to be satirical black humor, not some kind of industry standard you're supposed to imitate.
Near as I know, there is no such thing as "the workers' salary augmentation fund." So where does one send money? You can't just give it to Amazon, the fact aside that they aren't set up to just take money without offering goods/services in return, they wouldn't funnel it to the warehouse workers. So where does one send money?
Or are you just making a statement to try and make people feel bad, as though they should do something, but providing a bogus solution?
... CEOs and shareholders who want instant asymptotic revenue growth.
Morals, ethics, decency, and humanity are for non-profits.
In the US, SCOTUS says Amazon is a person.
They didn't specify what kind.
It little behooves the best of us to comment on the rest of us.
The summary says "he stuff was stolen". But the article itself is much less clear:
He added that he had opted to stay in a tent as it was easier and cheaper than commuting from his home in Perth, although his camping equipment had disappeared by Friday afternoon.
Did he say it had vanished? Or did the article writer find it had vanished on Friday? Not at all clear.
Also no aspect of the interview really asking the guy if he "had to" camp as the Willie bloke claimed, they just want you to assume that is the case. The actual guy who was camping just said it was cheaper and easier - if you are just going to be there a few week or two for seasonal work why wouldn't you prefer this to any kind of commute? Back when I used to work insane hours programming I slept under my desk for a week. It wasn't because I had to, it was just way easier at the time.
Also low 30's (assuming F) is not "battery cold", it's just mildly chilly and most sleeping bags would handle that temperature easily. I've camped before in sub-zero (again F) temperatures before and that's not at all uncomfortable with the right equipment.
Basically the whole thing seems written with a pre-determined viewpoint in mind and hardly any real research or interviewing done.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
All hail our corporate overlords!
How merciful of Amazon not to buy up that land and then charge their slaves, errr, I mean "employees" for the privilege of camping on it.
I don't know about over there, but I know that Amazon has been directly responsible for driving the cost of apartments in Seattle through the roof. You used to be able to rent a modest apartment for $500 to $600 a month, now it's well over $1200 to $1500 or more for a basic place in a run down building. But screw those poor people, right?
Just cruising through this digital world at 33 1/3 rpm...
I'll have you know Mr poster, we consumers buy stuff at the highest prices we can so our money will trickle down to the poorest of people. No sir, none of that Black, Friday deals for us.
And everything to do with people being a little HARDER than your default little bitch tech worker.
Subtract the family, I would sleep in a tent until I could afford the van for decent pay. Double if I was unemployed before I was hired on.
Businesses hiring temp workers for low wage would do well to offer campgrounds.
You are being ripped off every second of every day, so that advertisers can help rip you off even more tomorrow.
Struggling writers found sleeping In tents behind Random House HQ
So, think anyone will notice the difference?
Shai Schticks:"You don't make peace with friends, you make peace with enemies"
The combination of brains, the energy and discipline to work 24x7x365, and an utter lack of scruples tends to lead to outsized rewards under the American system of capitalism.
In general any company which depends on and promotes laziness tends to treat their employees horribly. They're far more aware than the average person of the overall negative effects they're having on society. And they really don't care. You can't expect people like that to treat their employees well.
If you pay the workers, when the fuck is the CEO going get paid?
Despite Scotland's "bitterly cold winter nights" -- with lows in the 30s
As a Canadian, that's cute.
Dunfermline was - back when I was there in the early 90's - a town full of dead and dying manufacturing industries, surrounded by other small towns full of dead and dying peripheral industries, in a region that had been gutted of industries. Wonderful people. Amazingly good food for the area. The bleakness of the area had its own beauty, similar to much smaller places like Migdale, Spinningdale, Betty Hill, Lairg, Bonar Bridge, or Ardgay. There used to be a coffee shop in the northwest "corner" of the second(?) high-street roundabout that made awesome lemon scones.
Half of 'a lot' is still 'a lot'. But 'incentive to move' is one thing, its the 'capacity to move' thats vaporising. As orgs get larger and larger, the base of the pyramid gets wider. If you were born on the wrong side of the tracks, this means fewer bridges to the prosperous side of town. Making the glitzy side glitzier does nothing except cement dissatisfaction.
There were already similar stories in the US where Amazon workers lived in camper RVs and travelled from warehouse to warehouse as work was needed. So it does happen here.
Beyond that, I used to work in an office park with small number of fulfillment warehouses. During a health kick phase of my life, I used to spend an hour a day walking the office park in loops. It was reasonably safe and let me de-stress from work. It was during these walks when I happened to look into the adjacent woods you normally could not see from within the office park or the road and realized there were numerous tents set up, some carefully camouflaged.
This wasn't even Amazon but a much smaller fulfillment operation, mainly for Brother products. And it was 8 years ago.
Sig for hire.
shipping is nationalized under the postal service, last mile delivery is exclusively using renewables (doable today, but not in the past.) AND delivery based businesses are taxed according to income to offset costs.
But that isn't 'free market', that level of infrastructure improvement isn't going to happen in the next 5 years, nevermind decade, and FREE MARKET IS BETTER! according to the Americans, even while shorting their own economy's future.
1) Eliminate minimum wage and allow the market to set the rate through competition. Minimum wage sets a nationwide standard of how little a person in a position like this is worth.
MANY employers feel employees are a burden they wish they could do without and feel like paying them even minimums is too much. They'd LOVE to pay zero, maybe toss them a sandwich for pay. If the law allowed it, they would do it! Nevermind if people can survive off that. There are always tons of applicants for every job so they are disposable people.
Sig for hire.
And the workers who don't have such a magical salary augmentation fund should feel guilty that they're not rich enough to buy expensive shit. Because buying expensive shit is the only way to heaven.
> ..."bitterly cold winter nights" -- with lows in the 30s....
Um... There are a couple days forecast to not get above 0 next week here. Will trade house in northern Wisconsin for tent in Scotland.
Remember, no one actually forced these workers to accept a salary of minimum wage
Yeah no one's forcing the workers to not starve to death on the streets. It's their choice.
SJW n. One who posts facts.
Given that many workers in such low paid jobs get working tax credit or housing benefit in the UK, then the we already contribute to that fund via taxation. The UK government is increasing the minimum wage which will move the direct burden from taxation to the employer, although presumably the average taxpayer will see no reduction in taxes, but some increase in the cost of goods and services.
"bitterly cold winter nights" -- with lows in the 30s
Shouldn't that be the -30s? I don't think Scotland gets into the thirties very often even in summer and +30 or more at night would be hot enough to make camping quite uncomfortable.
"The safety and well-being of our permanent and temporary associates is our number one priority."
Yeah... he's no longer an associate. Sorry.
Just a meta-comment on a couple of points.
Searched for funny comments. Not quite nothing, but the few that were moderated funny were barely.
Searched for "evil", but only referenced in a sig.
Searched the insightful comments. Not.
Searched for references to any of the books I've read about Amazon. Nothing.
Several hundred comments. The article is probably about to expire. Wanted to find some part of the discussion that was worth participating in. Failed.
Oh well. Capsule summary. I stopped doing business with Amazon many years ago because I felt they were abusing my privacy and my personal information. (Also no visible references to those two terms as of this writing.) Just went through a 16-month episode of Amazon spamming that was only stopped (if it has been stopped) by appeal to jeff@ himself. Yet in conclusion, I don't really blame Amazon for becoming evil. That's just the rules of the business game these decades. If a company fails to become sufficiently evil, then it gets destroyed like roadkill. (I think NetScape, Sun, Palm, and Nokia are examples of such destruction.)
Freedom = (Meaningful - Coerced) Choice != (Speech | Beer^2), and sad sock puppets' bad mods avail them naught.
The UAW one of the most corrupt, bloated, useless organizations I've ever had to deal with.
Try the SEIU instead. Nimbler and leaner, and the upper management of the union seems to have a grasp of things like emergent effects and not-shitting-in-your-water-supply. They don't just organize janitors either, they also organize professions like nurses and medical residents (I myself am a medical resident).
This is not some 3rd world country, they make a livable wage or at least have the option of doing so, if not, the government will give it to them. Some people choose to live in a warehouse that has no stairways, fire escape or sprinklers. Some live in cars and tents, even in the middle of winter, it is very rare that across someone's life someone would be forced to do so in these countries, there are enough social nets and backups and aid available. I'm not going to feel sorry if they burn or freeze to death unless the government ordered them in there.
People in the US and EU/UK alike have the opportunity to have a minimum wage which affords you a small house and usually even your own transportation, there are enough work places begging for low cost labor.
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I worry about their 2nd and 3rd priorities.
And i wonder what priority making a profit has for Amazon.
You should read "I Was a Warehouse Wage Slave".
Really tells you what it is!
With regard to the discussion of Walmart vs Amazon vs Whatever: Funny story there. I go to Walmart for a toy, it's $10. Same toy at Target is $15. Same exact toy, right down to the barcode, is $20 at Toys R Us. So you'd think if I spent more money, the employees would be better paid, and I'd get better service. That is not the case! Employees are treated equally poorly, everyone makes the minimum wage, google Target and see how toxic a work environment that place is, and for paying more money I'm treated worse! Try it yourself! Returns at Toys R Us took 2 stores, dealing with half a dozen rather rude people, taking to the manager at both stores, government issued photo ID, the original credit card, quoting their return policy to them, which I had to bring with me, etc. I was particularly enamored of their technique for printing their return policy behind their service desk where only employees could go in a flyspeck font that required better than 20/20 vision to read, and then pointing at it. I came damn close to filing a claim in small claims court, all for a $20 game case that they said I could return and turned out to be the wrong size. Spent more on gas & time returning it that it was worth, but damn they pissed me off.
Contrast all that with Walmart where I'm in and out in 10 seconds. There's nothing to it. No ID, no nothing. Even lacking a receipt it's not a problem.
I've seen a number of companies, including Toys R Us & OfficeMax playing the free shipping game. They offer this great deal. It's $49, free shipping if the order is over $50, so you add in some junk. Then the original great deal is canceled and you're stuck with the junk you bought to get the free shipping, which is often no longer free. Returns? See above. It's bait and switch. It ought to be illegal! But nothing ever seems to happen. At least OfficeMax didn't charge me for shipping and accepted the return gracefully at a local store. Toys R Us? Never again!
Food, I had a local grocery store chain that charged me double unless I had their "loyalty" card. I kept forgetting it, so I photocopied the bar code. That was fine for years. Then one day, nope, photocopy is no good anymore, they sent me out for the original from my car; Me quite visibly sick (I had gone there for meds), with three kids in tow, the oldest of which was in kindergarten, the youngest of which was almost a year old, out into their unplowed parking lot with more than 4 inches of snow on the ground for the original loyalty card. You know, even WITH the loyalty card, I was still paying $5 for turkey hot dogs at the grocery store vs $2 at Walmart. (It was worse without the card.)
I'm the one paying my hardearned money here, and it ain't that easy to earn in the computer biz once you're over 40. How much crap do you expect me to put up with to make some rich bastard richer so I can feel good about a different group of people being exploited!
It's not like I can pick a company that treats their workers better when they're all so shitty!
$15 an hour is NOT the answer. That's a random number pulled out of thin air. Cost of living varies from state to state (city to city), so to state unequivocally that $15 an hour will give you a "living wage" no matter where you live is pure BS.
Plus, I hope McDonalds, Carls Jr., etc. all come through and just replace all the entitled workers (seriously, Fast Food as a CAREER CHOICE?) with a Machine, like they have been testing. As it's not going to make the mistakes that the average worker does (McDonalds Drive-Thru screwed up my order just last night here in the People's Republic of California where they're already making way too much money). As arbitrary increases like this have to come from somewhere (I'd like to know where you came up with $0.25 per hamburger more to cover a 50% increase in wages for every worker in the store per hour ($10 -> $15 here in CA)), and we know it's not going to come out of the profits (that's what people invest in the companies for, to make a profit).
So ultimately, you raise the minimum wage, which increases the costs of goods (thus inflation), and ultimately $15 becomes the new $10. Congratulations, the only people you screwed were the people already making $15 and above who didn't get a pay raise to offset the inflation.
Ayup, another European who doesnt understand free
Its not difficult to keep yourself clean while winter camping. Guess youve never had that experience in mom's basement.
Keep in mind most of the commenters here are probably in the US. Here in Texas, we arent provided with health care, public transportation, housing and food assistance are also hard to come by.
One wonders how much value each worker generates for Amazon, and what percentage of that value Amazon returns to workers as compensation. One wonders if Amazon pays their employees in the warehouses enough money to be able to afford the very goods and services they are producing.
Global warming is worse than I thought!
Can we have an international Slashdot site, please?
Because right now such "news" are hard to read: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Countries_that_use_Fahrenheit.svg
This is so stupid... like using inches and feet to measure things...
Captcha very appropriate: "confuse"
In your unproductive years, be uncomfortable in your poverty. Maybe that will give you some incentive to be a better person instead of whining about your lot in life.
For those who are attacking Amazon, can you answer if you are looking at the same item on website A and B, and site A is cheaper, which one will you choose? IF your answers is A, you are just as same as those who likes fur, but hate animal get killed.
ya got there. Be a shame if a stray bit 'o truth caught it fire and burned it down...
This has nothing to do with what Amazon allows or doesn't allow. They're not paying their employees enough to afford an apartment. Simple as that. Nobody lives in a tent by choice. You didn't either. If you were better paid you'd have bought an apartment. Just because you don't feel like you were taken advantage of doesn't mean you weren't.
Oh, and these are warehouse workers. They make a hell of a lot less than you did working for Silicon Valley. They're not going to pull themselves up by their bootstraps with their mighty Amazon warehouse wages. Unless somebody comes along and helps them they'll spend the rest of their lives there. And they'll be joined by more workers. We'll have tent cities in America. Let that sink in.
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
"They pay a small amount of tax and received millions of pounds from the Scottish National Party Government, so the least they should do is pay the proper living wage."
If Amazon meets the criteria, the grants must be given - adminstered by the Scottish Government.
Corporation Tax and Minimum Wage Legislation is reserved to the UK Government at Westminster - despite repeated requests by the Scottish Government to devolve authority over these things to Holyrood.
That is amusing but here's the thing - even a crappy $14 sleeping bag from Amazon is rated "32-60 degrees F", and the article said it was "in the 30's" so several degrees warmer than the lowest rating. That's why I don't think "bitter cold" is the right term because even a light sleeping bag easily keeps you warm at 30+F.
"There is more worth loving than we have strength to love." - Brian Jay Stanley
I live in the southeastern US. The Amazon warehouse 6 miles from my home starting pay is 160% of the minimum wage, and family members who work there have rapidly reached 200% of the minimum. Why is there such a discrepancy here?
Obviously Amazon is paying them too much.
They get tents! Wow! They're supposed to dutifully freeze or starve to death after the Christmas Rush like good Donald Trump Voting Americans want them to.
you could get frostbite in less than 30 minutes.
That's like 10F with storm-force winds, or around -15F in calm weather.
Frostbite isn't even possible over 28F, what kind of weirdo calls 30F "bitterly cold"?
Fast food may be salivating about their machines replacing humans, but what happens when each home gets one? why would I need a restaurant at that point?
The Courier article states,
“We pay competitive wages — all permanent and temporary Amazon associates start on £7.35 an hour or above regardless of age and £11 an hour and above for overtime.”
1 British pound = $1.27. So the pay rates are $9.33 straight time, and $13.97 overtime.
If over 40 hours/week is considered overtime,
then 60 hours of work there is 40 hours straight time + 20 hours overtime,
and the pay is (40 * $9.33) + (20 * $13.97) = $373.20 + $279.40 = $652.60.
If "The fares the company charge for transport swallow up a lot of the weekly wage" then the shuttle service must be expensive. I wonder how far away from work the employees live. Maybe the employees who don't own a car can commute with employees who do own one, or take public transportation.
This is absolutely true. And to be fair, in many jobs, the employees are a necessary evil. I would imagine in warehousing, Amazon is looking forward to automating away more and more of the jobs as they appear to be working very hard to do.
The problem is, there are social welfare systems in place in most western countries that make it more profitable to stay at home then to pay less than the current minimum wages. If the cost of working itself (transportation, lunch, etc...) exceeds the wages, there's no point going instead of just scraping buy.
The result is, employers have to offer more to get access to the necessary evil. When minimum wage exists, they already know what to pay them. I live in a country with no minimum wage. I haven't seen a native homeless person in years... and I look sometimes. And a dual income family from McDonalds can justify a good standard of living.
If you consider the cost of working, meaning the cost of transportation, food, etc... involved with being an employee, outside of the US, most countries offer better welfare than the minimum wage.
And no, no one forced them to accept a minimum wage position. There are endless jobs in almost every country for people willing to look. McDonalds, Burger King, etc... they aren't for people who actually take the time to look. They respond to seeing a help wanted sign... they unintentionally forfeited their liberty in exchange for laziness. They ended up taking one of the hardest and shittiest jobs ever simply because they refused to google jobs and go on interviews. They got a job while eating a cheeseburger.
The number of jobs available for unskilled labor is massive around the world. And there are many employers who would be willing to pay handsomely for someone who is trustworthy. Consider security guards, toll booth clerks, janitors, lawn care, maids, etc... people who can be trusted are worth a lot. A first step towards trust is seeing someone who is willing to take the initiative to find a job as opposed to simply responding to a TV commercial or a help wanted sign.
And no... in Scotland, you will not starve to death on the streets if you live on welfare. Scotland homelessness is generally due to people running from home or leaving a relationship. The numbers are extremely low.
So if you remove the minimum wage, the employers will definitely try to respond by taking advantage of it. That would be stupid not to. But when they need to hire people, no one will apply which will require them to increase their offers.