Since entering India’s e-commerce market in 2013, Amazon has experienced rapid and sustained growth. The company’s expansion narrative is both straightforward and ambitious: to deliver faster service to customers. However, this ambitious vision involves a dangerous trade-off of labor guarantees. The extension of Amazon’s signature 2-day Prime sale to 4 days is a quintessential example of the same. While it markets the move as a response to customer feedback, warehouse workers describe these peak periods as some of the most punishing, with climbing injury rates as workers are pushed to meet relentless targets. One American warehouse worker captured the sentiment starkly:

The more sweat we pour into Amazon—the more injuries, the more sleepless nights—the richer the bosses become, and the deeper we sink into insecurity.

Conditions of work in Amazon’s first facility in India, located in the Manesar industrial hub, echo similar concerns. Recently, IT for Change and the Centre for Labour Studies at the National Law School of India University conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 workers and three union representatives at Amazon’s warehouse in Manesar over three visits across November 2024 and February 2025. Only last year, the country’s foremost human rights body – the National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) – took suo moto cognizance of the working conditions at Amazon’s warehouse after reports surfaced of a worker at the Amazon warehouse being forced to desist from taking toilet and water breaks. This was at a time when the region was engulfed in a record-breaking heatwave, with temperatures reaching 49 degrees Celsius, amounting to a public health crisis.

A year into the NHRC’s announcement to investigate Amazon, little has changed for workers at the Manesar warehouse. However, workers reported continuing violations of labour law and the deepening of the surveillance state inside the halls of the warehouse over the course of the interviews. This raises urgent questions not just about conditions at Amazon’s newly launched warehouses, but also about the company’s broader operations in India and the systemic impunity from labour regulations it appears to enjoy. This article unpacks the conversations had with warehouse workers and their representatives to shed light on the day-to-day challenges workers face within its tightly controlled environment.

Algorithmic Surveillance and Bodily Control

Amazon’s entire empire is built on abject control of its workforce through surveillance and technological monitoring to boost productivity. Amazon facilities at Manesar boast of an extensive surveillance network–2000 CCTV cameras across the facility; a network of computers and hand-held scanners. Workers’ IDs are constantly tracked, allowing managers to have visibility over each and every worker at all times.

Rahul, a feeder, shared:

We have to scan our ID cards 6 times each day to register our entry and exit times of the facility. We all feel that this punch-in in and punch-out so many times is unnecessary and serves little purpose- other than adding to our existing work. We also have to scan our IDs with the handheld scanner so the managers can track the workers using it. Every worker who is picking, stowing, or at the counter has one.

Workers shared that they have no time to rest between tasks at the factory. They claim that any time not spent actively working – referred to as ‘idle time’ – is monitored and penalized by the management. The goal of the manager, as Seema, a picker, shared, is “to get the work of four people done by two.”

This can range from the several minutes workers may take to use the washroom to the milliseconds they take to move their mobile phones or adjust their clothing. Each department has a permissible idle time limit, typically ranging between 18 – 36 minutes. Exceeding this time limit attracts an ADAPT (Amazon’s AI system Associate Development and Performance Tracker) –a tool used to instill authoritarian-like discipline. The tool allows managers to log negative reviews, with a total of three ADAPTs leading to workers being blacklisted from working for any Amazon facility in the future.

A worker dismayed,

They can even give 2 ADAPTs at the same time. The reasons for these ADAPTs are not fully clear- and are not explained to us most of the time. There is a direct ADAPT from the manager, even if the mistake is happening for the first time—workers are made to sign the ADAPT. This is usually done in a publicly humiliating manner with managers often deploying intimidation tactics.

This constant surveillance, combined with demanding production targets, has meant severe health consequences for warehouse workers. Many reported avoiding the washroom for entire shifts—sometimes lasting over 10 hours—out of fear of missing targets or being penalized. To minimize washroom breaks, some workers shared that they limited their water intake, increasing the risk of serious health issues, including dehydration and urinary tract infections. Others reported experiencing frequent body aches from being constantly on their feet and in motion throughout the day.

Workers also reported suffering frequent injuries due to the relentless pace at which they are forced to work at the warehouse. Many shared that they choose to continue working through their injuries rather than report them, fearing that any time taken to rest or recover would be recorded as IDLE time.

Reshma, a worker, explained:

If you get injured, convincing the HR person that the injury is the reason you couldn’t meet your target is an uphill battle. So, most of us just keep working through the pain, even when it becomes unbearable.

She also added that:

There was a worker who cut her finger while working and used Amazon packing tape to stop the bleeding instead of seeking first aid because she was scared of falling behind on her targets by going to the problem solver for help.

Workers also shared that the relentless pace they are forced to maintain severely affects the quality of their work. Under constant pressure to meet high targets, they sometimes accidentally damage the products they’re handling. Workers said that with surveillance cameras constantly monitoring every move, such mistakes are more often than not immediately caught by their managers, leading to penalties for workers.

The deep penetration of surveillance at all times across the length and breadth of the warehouse has made organizing workers an uphill task for union members.  Together, management and surveillance networks are used to discipline workers’ bodies, reducing them to replaceable parts of a single machine. Both fear and technology-facilitated bodily control have isolated workers from one another, posing immense challenges to building peer-to-peer solidarity networks.

Creation of a Labor Precariat

All the workers we interviewed across job roles—ranging from loaders and feeders to drivers—reported being employed as contract workers despite performing work that is central to the work of the warehouse. Under Indian law, as held by the Indian Supreme Court, work that is core and perennial to a company must not be contracted out. Yet, workers report that, barring a few senior staff, none of the workers on the warehouse floors hold permanent positions. Instead, they are formally employed through third-party contractors. Workers contend that these contractors are mere name-lenders—functioning as nothing more than rubber stamps. Apart from issuing payslips and crediting salaries, the contracting agencies have virtually no presence in workers’ day-to-day lives.

Rahul, a feeder, shared:

I last saw the contractor when I was hired. I haven’t seen or heard from him since.

In practice, all supervision—from the most routine to the most critical—is handled entirely by Amazon staff. When workers have questions, face difficulties, or need resolution, they turn directly to Amazon personnel. Even decisions related to termination are made solely by Amazon management. Only after such decisions are taken are the termination papers sent to the contracting agency for their signature, maintaining a legal fiction of outsourced employment.

Kamal, a packer, shared:

All decisions related to leave requests and dispute resolution are made by the manager or HR representative. The contractor is only involved in matters of unpaid leave and signing of termination letters.

Likened to the ‘bonded labour system’ by the Indian Supreme Court, the unpopular practice of contractualization is often the first resort for corporates looking to deny workers their rights under domestic labor legislations. For instance, contractualization has for long been a flashpoint issue in the Manesar industrial belt. Earlier this year, a peaceful rally by contract workers working in the automobile manufacturing company Maruti Suzuki, demanding regularization and pay parity with permanent workers, was met with an intense police clampdown. Unlike permanent workers who enjoy protections against arbitrary firings under India’s industrial relations law, namely the Industrial Disputes Act, 1947, contract workers can be fired at will. Consequently, organizing workers under the banner of a trade union becomes immensely challenging, thereby making it difficult for contract workers to realize a core labour right enshrined in India’s constitution – the right to collectivize as a union.

Stagnating Wages

This aligns with another grim reality: real wages for regular workers have stagnated in India over the past decade. At Amazon, workers earn anywhere between Rs 13,000 and Rs 16,000 per month –  not for the legally mandated eight-hour workday, but for ten-hour shifts. Even these modest wages are not assured month to month, workers noted, as pay is docked for any leave taken by the worker.

The wages barely cover basic survival. Many workers described living in a constant state of financial precarity. Tara, a 24-year-old worker, explained:

Rent is a major burden. We pay ₹8,000 for a single room shared between four of us. Food costs about ₹3,000. On top of that, we have to send money back to our parents in the village. By the end of the month, we have nothing left—no savings, no money for a small luxury of watching a movie or even buying ourselves new clothes.

Rama, another worker, added:

My sister and I together try to send ₹10,000 home. To manage that, we cut back heavily on everything. A single worker might be able to send ₹5,000 home, but any more than that and you start slipping into debt. Any sudden expense on account of illness or any other unexpected event pushes us into debt. A lot of our income ends up repaying loans. I joined this job hoping I could save something, but I haven’t been able to save even a rupee.

Most workers at the warehouse therefore, are eager to work beyond their 10-hour workday and are constantly on the lookout for overtime work. But even this, they say, is difficult to come by. Ranjit, a feeder at the warehouse, shared:

If you want to earn a little more, you have to work overtime. But even that’s not fairly given—only those who are on good terms with the managers get it.

A part of the blame for the low wages being paid to Amazon workers rests with the local state Haryana Government, which, apart from increasing the inflation component of minimum wages in the state, has not revised basic wages that form the bulk of the state minimum wage for almost a decade. Under the country’s minimum wage law, every state is responsible for revising minimum wages once every five years. Delhi, India’s capital city, which shares a border with Haryana, increased minimum wages just this year, pegging wages for unskilled workers at Rs 710/day and skilled workers at Rs 862/day. In contrast, wages are at Rs 432.97/day for unskilled workers and ~ Rs. 513.74/day for skilled workers in Haryana.

Creation of a Feminized Workforce at Amazon

The number of women workers hired by Amazon has increased drastically in the recent past, said members of the Amazon India Workers Union who are organizing at the facility. According to Manish, a union leader at the facility, a significant reason for this increase in hiring of women workers in place of male workers is possibly because women, unlike men, do not speak up against the management and are far easier to control and subvert. But this isn’t just about their perceived submissiveness. The dual burden of paid and unpaid labor makes women more vulnerable to dismissal. Employers find it easier to fire them under pretexts like “low productivity,” marriage, or childbirth.

As one worker remarked, “They hire us because they know it’s easier to get rid of us.”

Economist Jayati Ghosh has pointed out that employers often show a preference for women in certain industries because of the exploitative flexibility they offer—lower wages, minimal bargaining, and a higher tolerance for poor working conditions. Women, she notes, are seen as “docile” and less likely to unionise or protest. This phenomenon – where women are increasingly hired for insecure, low-paid, and precarious jobs—is known as the “feminization of employment.” Though most commonly observed in India’s garment industry, similar trends are now becoming evident in the logistics and warehousing sectors as well.

Gender-Based Violence and Harassment

Workers at the Amazon warehouse also described a disturbing climate of gender-based violence and harassment (GBVH), particularly targeting women. Female workers reported being routinely subjected to verbal abuse from male managers, which they say has caused long-lasting psychological trauma.

Srija, a 23-year-old woman worker, noted that the abuse women face is not just more frequent, but also more degrading than that directed at their male colleagues:

The verbal abuse against women workers is not just higher, but worse in intensity and foulness. Male workers are able to speak up against the managers. On the other hand, most of the women workers are afraid of losing their jobs and have no choice but to meekly tolerate the abuse — which only escalates the more silent they become.

Verbal abuse is just one facet of a much wider problem. Workers also recounted several instances of sexual harassment. Many shared that inappropriate behaviour by managers is a regular occurrence. Using their access to workers’ phone numbers, some managers reportedly harass women both on-site and via text messages. Workers said they are often asked intrusive questions — about their home addresses, whether they live alone, or if they have partners. Others described how managers routinely linger near them while they work, making them feel unsafe and violated.

Rather than curbing harassment, workers said that surveillance tools in the warehouse have only made matters worse. Devices like ID card trackers are allegedly misused by managers to stalk women around the facility.

Pratima, a 22-year-old worker, shared:

If you say ‘leave me’ or reject them, they start being rude and begin to torture the person. Many times, the PS or manager behaves inappropriately. They harass us over text, ask for our address, and whether we have a boyfriend. They find us through the scanner that we use , linger around where we are working, and behave in a way that makes us uncomfortable.

India’s Sexual Harassment of Women at Workplace (Prevention, Prohibition and Redressal) Act, 2013 — commonly known as the POSH Act — requires every workplace with over 10 employees to establish an Internal Complaints Committee (ICC). This committee must be headed by a senior woman employee and include an external member with expertise in women’s issues. The Committee’s composition must be at least one-third women.  However, workers claim no such committee exists at the warehouse — or, if it does, they have never been made aware of it.

Instead, the only avenue for registering complaints appears to be a workplace app called MyVoice. But workers said the app is ineffective and even dangerous. Complaints must be made under the worker’s name, which makes them vulnerable to retaliation. Radha, a worker, explained:

“You can’t complain anonymously. When you raise a complaint through the MyVoice app, you need to mention your ID. Once you do, they identify and hound you. Most women are therefore deterred from raising any complaint.”

The failure to establish the ICC is not the only labour law violation at the warehouse. In violation of India’s maternity benefit law, no creche is provided at the warehouse either. Women workers with children are forced to leave their children at home. Where maternity is availed, workers note that usually a month’s pay is deducted. In fact, most women workers are unaware of the benefits of the Maternity Act, which include the provision of child care facilities and the right to payment of maternity benefits. Many either work through their maternity period without availing available benefits or end up quitting.

Conclusion

Frictionless consumption is a dream Amazon is determined to fulfill. Amazon’s need for speed is at the heart of the design and operation of its on-time logistics network infrastructure. The objective, borrowing from the Japanese just-in-time production values, is to minimise the time that products sit still. As a result, workers are forced to be maniacally productive at an incredibly dangerous workplace only to be reduced to replaceable parts of a machine. Tireless and gruelling work days leave workers with little energy to do anything but immediately fall into a deep slumber.

The National Human Rights Commission and repeated reports of inhumane working conditions at the warehouse in Manesar led to two notable changes–the warehouse, previously called Del4, now carries Amazon’s name, and a meagre raise of Rs. 900 was offered to the worker. Amazon continues to leverage its advanced system of surveillance and bodily control, consisting of the algorithm, management, and the warehouse to create dismal working conditions. The multi-billion dollar machine, running on the backs of an ever-growing workforce, has a singular purpose – to enable the continuous expansion of wealth, labour, and infrastructure of Amazon.

Insights from warehouse workers have been anonymised.

The authors conducted semi-structured interviews with 15 workers at Amazon’s warehouse in Manesar over three visits across November 2024 and February 2025. The field visits were conducted as part of a study undertaken by IT for Change and the Centre for Labour Studies, NLSIU exploring various modes of algorithmic management across the platform economy.