The 24-year-old riding a bike. (Express Photo by Gajendra Yadav.)

“There are many workers in this area and most take the bus, for which they have to leave at 8 am. I can leave around 8.15 am. That’s 15 minutes more to spend on my phone,” he says cheekily, sitting at home some 7.5 km from his workplace.

On June 14, The Indian Express reported about the working conditions at Amazon’s DEL 4 fulfillment center in Manesar, where employees were allegedly made to pledge against taking bathroom and water breaks until their targets were met.

Days after the Ministry of Labor and Employment sought a response from Amazon India, the company on June 24 admitted that an employee had asked a group of workers to take the pledge.

The Amazon warehouse in Manesar near Gurgaon. (Express photo)

“Our investigation revealed that on May 16, 2024, around 16:30 hours, after both the breaks for the day had been taken, one of the employees at the building did lead a small subset of employees and associates at the Subject FC in a pledge The employee thought of the pledge as a motivational exercise. This was an unfortunate and isolated incident and a clear violation of our workplace standards. Prompt disciplinary action has been taken against this employee,” the company said.

It’s at this center that the 24-year-old works, at the inbound department, where he must unload cargo — parcels ordered by customers — from 32-feet long trucks. The job is hectic and physically taxing: a typical workday begins at 8.27 am and ends at 6.30 pm, with two 30-minute breaks — one at noon and another at 3 pm. In between, he spends most of time on his feet, unloading cartons upon cartons of cargo, everything from diapers and petfood to huge LED TVs. On average, he unloads four trucks a day, but these numbers go up during the e-commerce giant’s sales — offered at the end of the season or during festivals like Diwali. “On average, each truck has anywhere between 8,000-10,000 parcels,” he says.

‘Haven’t sent a paisa home’

Originally from Uttar Pradesh’s Firozabad, the young lumper began working at the center a month after he came to the national capital region looking for jobs in 2020.

Despite working there, he’s only ever purchased from Amazon once — two years ago, when he had to buy a phone. Delivery was not available at his location in Firozabad’s Tundla tehsil, forcing him to go to the nearest pickup location 3 km away.

Now at home in Manesar, the 24-year-old sits cross-legged on his bed in an 8×10 room with bright yellow walls and an attached bathroom. Apart from his bed, a shelf for clothes and documents, and a cooler take up most of the room while a stove, a vegetable basket and a rack for utensils are pushed into a small nook that serves as the kitchen. He shares this space with a roommate, another 24-year-old Amazon employee.

The 24-year-old at his rented room in Manesar. (Gajendra Yadav)

A typical workday morning starts at 6.30 am. After brushing, bathing and eating his breakfast — the eggs and roti he cooked the previous night — he scrolls through social media and then heads to work, where trucks are already waiting at the docks.

At noon, he has his lunch: some more fried eggs, dal and roti he brings from home. “It takes 10 minutes to reach the canteen and after queuing up to first scan our IDs and then for food, we’re left with 10 minutes to have our meals,” he says.

Once home, it’s time for more eggs and dal. “I eat a lot of eggs,” he chuckles.

Staying on his feet all day means he has little energy to spare. “I collapsed on my bed once I reached home. Standing for nine hours a day takes a toll on your body and my legs get stiff,” he says.

It was a friend who suggested that he try for a job at the warehouse in June 2020. He was then a food delivery executive.

Until last April, he was a full-time worker. But that changed when he was refused leave to go see his 60-year-old mother who was undergoing an eye surgery. “I then decided I would come back and join as a part-time employee,” he says.

Now, the 24-year-old can pick his working days, but he chooses to work five times a day, getting Rs 616 for day shifts and Rs 730 for nights. Expenses are high and money is always tight. Although major expenses like rent and utility bills are shared, other costs such as groceries and monthly EMI of Rs 4,267 for his motorcycle means he has little money left at the end of the month.

“I have not been able to send a paisa home in the last 9 months. After 10 hours of work, my time is spent worrying about the future. There seems to be no way out of this place,” he says.

Anxiety about money keeps him awake at night. And in times like these, he turns to his most favorite distraction — social media.

“I stay awake till 2 am. So I end up spending time on Instagram or Facebook,” he says.

‘Can’t afford to marry’

He has an entire family back in Firozabad — a mother, four brothers, nephews and nieces. He went home three months ago, but has no plans of going back in the near future.

He doesn’t want to face the questions, he says. “My older brother keeps asking him to pitch in at home and take up another job. But there’s no other job.”

A Class 5 dropout, he hasn’t had formal education since his father’s passing in 2010. But he’s now determined to better his prospects.
For one thing, he’s learning how to use a computer and has even bought himself a laptop with money borrowed from his brother and friends. This too was done at his brother’s urging “so I could get a better-paying job”, he says.

For another, he’s using whatever time he has to spare to read up about labor laws and unionising. The black backpack he carries around has copies of Aadhaar cards and employee IDs of 70 warehouse workers who have agreed to unionise.

He even went to Chandigarh last December to speak to legal experts and is currently informally consulting carmaker Maruti’s union in Manesar in an effort to understand the legal aspects of unionising.

“I need at least 100 workers or 10 percent of the total employee strength (of 1,200) to get the union registered,” he said, eloquent on the subject.

Does he miss his mother? Yes, but she doesn’t know what his life is like here. “When someone asks her after me, she brags that I work at Amazon, but only I know what that means.”

Loneliness assails him every now and then, and in times like that, he wishes he had someone to share his life with. But that’s a luxury he can ill-afford. “Marriage means responsibility. With the current wages, I won’t be able to support anyone,” he sighs.