Amazon used “neo-Nazi” guards to control foreign workers

[marmar]

from Salon.com:


Friday, Feb 15, 2013 10:45 AM EST

Amazon used “neo-Nazi” guards to control foreign workers
A German documentary reports that workers were intimidated by black clad guards with fascist links

By Natasha Lennard


A documentary aired in Germany and flagged by British newspaper the Independent claims that Amazon employed security guards with neo-Nazi ties to oversee immigrant workers in its German packing and distribution centers.

Via the Independent:

The film showed omnipresent guards from a company named HESS Security wearing black uniforms, boots and with military haircuts. They were employed to keep order at hostels and budget hotels where foreign workers stayed. “Many of the workers are afraid,” the program-makers said.

Aspects of the guards’ attire and the company’s name carried neo-Nazi allusions, the Independent noted, and the firm’s director is believed to associate with far-right groups:

Several guards were shown wearing Thor Steinar clothing – a Berlin-based designer brand synonymous with the far-right in Germany. The Bundesliga football association and the federal parliament have both banned the label because of its neo-Nazi associations. Ironically, Amazon stopped selling the clothing for the same reasons in 2009.

ARD [the German channel that aired the documentary] suggested that the name “HESS Security” was an allusion to Adolf Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess. It alleged that its director was a man, named only as Uwe L, who associated with football hooligans and convicted neo-Nazis who were known to police. The programme-makers, who booked in at one of the budget hotels where Amazon staff were housed, said they were arrested by HESS Security guards after being caught using cameras. They were ordered to hand over their film and, when they refused, were held for nearly an hour before police arrived and freed them. The film showed HESS guards scuffling with the camera crew and trying to cover their lenses.

Amazon has more than 7,700 permanent employees in Germany and more than 5,000 temporary staff who come from around Europe to fill the surge in orders before Christmas. U.K. publication The Telegraph reported that “the German union ver.di said Amazon workers have for years complained of intense pressure, random searches and short breaks.” ................(more)

The complete piece is at: http://www.salon.com/2013/02/15/amazon_used_neo_nazi_guards_to_control_foreign_workers/

[bayareamike]

1. Disappointing, but I can't say I'm shocked.

Many multinationals have ties to sketchy operations.

As a side note, it's a bit ironic that the Thor Steinar brand is owned by a Dubai-based company named International Brands General Trading.

[Sekhmets Daughter]

2. Fascism has no nationality. n/t

[Divine Discontent]

3. most Americans like to believe that since it's not in our faces that it doesn't happen

and that companies like this would never allow it. making billions has a way of easing pressures of doing what's right and moral. corporations are not people, and the tentacles of them (their top employees) become drones to the machine, and push policies such as these to assure profit margins to keep investors happy. It's disgusting, but like you, can't say I'm shocked.

[Blue_Tires]

4. Note to Amazon: Stop hiring from the local pool of soccer hooligans...

[dgibby]

5. Time to stop shopping with Amazon. n/t

[pinboy3niner]

6. AP UPDATE: Amazon fires German security firm amid probe

February 18, 2013 06:33 AM EST

BERLIN (AP) — Amazon says it has fired a German security company amid mounting criticism after reports that temporary workers had been mistreated.

An Amazon spokeswoman in Germany, Ulrike Stoecker, said Monday the online retailer has ended its relationship with Hensel European Security Services "with immediate effect."

...


http://www.huffingtonpost.com/huff-wires/20130218/eu-germany-amazon-/?utm_hp_ref=homepage&ir=homepage

[reorg]

7. funny how they can "fire" a security firm that they hadn't contracted

in the first place, as they said yesterday.

So, I guess, they CAN take responsibility, even if it takes a major PR desaster for them to do so.

I wonder if they also plan to stop hiring temps under false pretenses.

"Come to Amazon! Work for us and earn minimum wage!"

If you say yes, however, they'll inform you two days prior to your departure that you'll have to make the contract with someone else. Too bad if they pay you less than promised once you have arrived! "It's out of our hands now!"

[Initech]

8. When did companies decide to wage war on their workers?