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I have not heard reports that Amazon has failed to pay overtime or lied about peoples hours or encouraged sexual harrassment or had in place overt geder and racial discrimination programs. But there are plenty of reports that warehouses are run in a place to save as much money as possible at the expense of the employee.
Amazon has been hit with at least warnings for conditions in warehouses in the US. They have had little to no air conditioning during summer shifts in places to the point that people were passing out from heat exhaustion. The managers of the warehouses in question knew there was a problem because they had ambulances waiting to take people to the hospital.
It sounds like they are giving people poor equipment in the Scottish warehouse. It was specifically mentioned that the steel toed boots that were mandated due to some of the objects in the warehouse did not fit employees which I am guessing is a safety violation. They were giving people blisters and all sorts of foot problems.
These are things that should be corrected and the managers and higher staff at those facilities should be fired. Using temp employees for positions is not a problem in my opinion. I didn't complain when I worked temp shifts at retail shops when I was home on vacation during college. I received more then minimum wage, mainly because I worked at the same store for 7 years, but I did not get vacation days or sick days or retirement benefits or any health benefits. I worked 30-40 hours a week but if there was little work, I could be sent home. That was the job.
I knew it when I was hired and had no problem with it. I was working on a college degree so that I could work in a different type of job market or management in retail if I ended up in retail. If I were to lose my job today and could not find another similar job, I would look at working such a job again because it is important to me to keep food on the table and put my son through college.
It is not my first choice (or my second or third) but that is life. You deal with what you have to deal with. There are many ways to avoid working such jobs, people in the US and Europe have choices. There are job training programs. There are free public schools for people to attend to get degrees. There are subsidized community colleges and universities. There are union supported trade programs. We do need more votech programs at high schools and community colleges for peope to learn plumbing, electrical work, line work, carpentry and the like. There are openings in many of those fields, they pay well, and you can fnd jobs that provide benefits in those areas.
Should Amazon treat their employees better? Yes. There are things they can do and should do. Do the people who are working for Amazon as temps who have other choices? Yes. Might it be a difficult/challenging for them to use those options? Yes but they are available.
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