Following a half-hour report last week by the ARD network alleging that seasonal workers at Amazon's warehouses in Germany, its second-largest market after the U.S., have been underpaid and maltreated--and that one neo-Nazi company provided abusive "security" at one warehouse and its housing for foreign workers--the company is scrambling to contain the damage.
As Deutsche Welle put it, the ARD piece "explored tiny temporary accommodation, unreliable bus transportation to and from Amazon offices, temporary and unsecured contracts, as well as the last-minute outsourcing of work contracts to employment agencies--reportedly paying less than the wages advertised on the original job application."
The last point has become a national issue. On Sunday, federal Minister of Labor and Social Affairs Ursula von der Leyen said that the government would investigate charges of underpayment of workers. She threatened that the licenses of Amazon contractors may be revoked.
The news that attracted the most revulsion concerned a security firm with the unfortunate acronym HESS (Hensel European Security Services), also the name of Hitler's Deputy Führer Rudolf Hess. ARD accused HESS of harassing immigrant workers living in Amazon housing near one Amazon warehouse. HESS employees were said to wear clothing designed by Thor Steinar, a Berlin brand linked to neo-Nazis. HESS has denied the accounts; yesterday Amazon said it had severed ties with HESS.
But the "security" problems may not be limited to HESS. ARD also alleged, as the Independent noted, "a broader climate of intimidation at Amazon's seven logistics centers in Germany, including threats of random staff searches, constant pressure to perform better and firing of workers who complained. It also appeared to show employees' rooms being searched, and staff being frisked at breakfast and constantly watched."
Minus the neo-Nazi angle, the charges are reminiscent of stories in recent years about conditions in Amazon warehouses in the U.S., some of which for a time had no air conditioning in brutal heat and where the company favors hiring temporary workers in an attempt, some say, to keep pay low and make it more difficult for unions to organize Amazon operations.
Not surprisingly, some German consumers and union leaders have reacted negatively. And at least one publisher has said he will no longer do business with Amazon. In an "Adieu Amazon" letter to Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, which appeared in Boersenblatt, Christopher Schroer, who publishes art books, monographs and exhibition catalogues under the Ch. Schroer and Neue Sachlichkeit imprints, had several complaints:
- Amazon's insistence on an "exorbitant" 50% discount and 5% stocking fee (even when Amazon doesn't stock the books).
- Amazon's use of "tricks" to avoid taxes, including requiring bills to be sent outside the European Union.
- The appearance of new books on the "damaged" book section of Amazon Marketplace.
- The outsourcing of many of the Amazon staffers publishers deal with to India, where there is less protection and fewer rights for workers than in Europe.
Referring to the ARD report, Schroer objected, too, to Amazon's treatment of immigrant temporary workers. "These people, your employees, your 'human capital,' you treat just as unfairly as you already have treated us."
In conclusion, he said, "You are, you never were and you never will be a company that treats people like people, publishers like partners and customers like kings. You are not a company that is committed to the cultural treasure of the book. You are not a company that has social and ethical principles."
In Buchreport, German e-commerce expert Gerrit Heinemann said he expected little fallout for Amazon from the general public in Germany because "there is no real alternative to Amazon," which has the highest rating for customer satisfaction. "The fact is that in comparison to Amazon, most online retailers are simply bad."
Heinemann noted, too, that Amazon is an example of American companies in the new economy that focus on low prices, which necessitate low costs. In some ways, Apple is worse about this than Amazon, "but ask an Apple customer if he'll give up his Apple product...."