Three freight companies in Tokyo’s neighboring Kanagawa Prefecture subcontracted to deliver packages for e-commerce giant Amazon.com Inc. required drivers to use other people’s IDs to disguise long working hours.

The drivers are solo proprietors under the contracts signed with the freight companies, and as such do not have a strong negotiating position.

A labor union that represents delivery personnel and associated staff demanded an improvement in working conditions. At that point, the freight companies admitted to the underhand practice.

To rectify matters, a labor union for Amazon delivery personnel set up a Yokosuka branch in June with the aim of improving working conditions.

According to the union, Amazon keeps track of the working hours of delivery personnel through an app that sets a cap of 60 hours in any work week.

However, a member informed the union that a freight company in Yokohama instructs delivery personnel who put in more than 60 hours per week to use another person’s ID.

The union then demanded the chief contractor and its two subcontractors to improve working conditions.

The chief contractor acknowledged that it instructed its subcontractors to muddy the waters on excess working hours. But since then, the situation has improved, according to the union.

The chief contractor declined to comment when contacted by The Asahi Shimbun regarding the practice.

The union argued that Amazon is the “employer” in this case and, therefore, responsible and demanded the implementation of collective bargaining.

But Amazon has yet to agree to hold such negotiations, the union said.

“We will handle the matter appropriately once we confirm a case that does not comply with Amazon’s standards on working conditions,” a representative of the Japanese arm of Amazon told The Asahi Shimbun by email. However, the official did not broach the issue of work hour limits or the use of other people’s IDs.

A driver in his 40s, who signed a contract with a secondary subcontractor of Amazon in Kanagawa Prefecture in January 2020, said the practice of using another person’s ID was common practice. He called it a “dummy” situation.

The man said the names of drivers, along with barcodes, are posted on the walls of a company warehouse and that each driver uses a scanner provided by the chief contractor to scan their barcode at the start of a shift.

But on particularly busy days, Fridays and Saturdays, they sometimes find sticky notes on the warehouse notice board with other names written on the list, which amounts to an instruction to use that person’s ID to start the shift.

The sticky notes are posted by an employee of the chief contractor, the man said.

The IDs cover delivery personnel whose weekly working hours were under 60 and those who quit or are no longer under contract.

The man said delivery personnel were instructed to use fake IDs during Amazon’s Black Friday sales period and other busy times.

The man typically works a 13-hour day.

In March this year, he averaged a 66-hour working week.

He receives job order from Amazon via an app.

The man said the number of packages he is required to deliver each day has risen sharply over the past year.

Many delivery personnel exceed the weekly work limit by the latter part of a week, according to the man, who belongs to the union’s Yokosuka branch.

The branch in June submitted a letter to Amazon and the chief contractor, as well as the two subcontractors, that said the practice constitutes “a serious compliance violation in terms of the Private Information Protection Law.” It called for an immediate end to the “heinous illegal activity to conceal excess labor and long driving hours.”

The branch also demanded that Amazon conduct a nationwide investigation and release its findings so as to correct the situation.

The union said it has received similar complaints from delivery personnel who work at other freight companies in the Kanto and Kyushu regions.

In cases involving Kanagawa freight companies, a direct contract relationship does not exist between delivery personnel and Amazon. That, the union said, means they “are workers in reality and Amazon should agree to hold group negotiations.”