Amazon Cuts Links to Company Facing Furor Over Security
|
Version 0 of 1. BERLIN — The online retailer Amazon on Monday severed all contact with the security company whose guards are alleged to have worn clothing associated with neo-Nazis and intimidated immigrant temporary workers. The announcement that Amazon had ceased its relationship with the company, Hensel European Security Services, or H.E.S.S., came days after a television documentary raised questions about Amazon’s treatment of foreign workers who had traveled to Germany to help fill the company’s crush of orders in the weeks before Christmas. “Amazon has ceased its cooperation with the criticized security service with immediate effect,” said Ulrike Stöcker, a spokeswoman for the German division of the company. “Amazon has zero tolerance for discrimination and intimidation, and we expect the same of all companies that we work with.” H.E.S.S. — which spells out the name of Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess — has denied the claims made by the documentary and members of the ver.di union, who reported seeing guards with tightly clipped military-style haircuts, jackboots and clothing from the Thor Steinar company, popular among neo-Nazis in Germany and illegal to wear in Parliament and several state legislatures. In a statement on Friday, H.E.S.S. said: “We clearly distance ourselves from any form of political radicalism, from far-right, far-left, as well as any religious extremists.” But the allegations against Amazon and its subcontractors went beyond that of intimidation by the security guards, to misleading prospective workers about the terms of their employment, carrying out random searches of temporary employees and severing contracts with anyone who complained. Labor Minister Ursula von der Leyen ordered an investigation into the subcontractor that brought people from across Europe to work in Amazon’s logistics center in Bad Hersfeld — one of seven the company runs in Germany, and the focus of the documentary broadcast on Wednesday by the ARD television network. “The temp agency is under investigation, with an eye to remove its license if concrete violations are found,” Christina Wendt, a Labor Ministry spokeswoman, told reporters on Monday. She emphasized that Amazon was not a subject of the investigation that is to be completed by the end of this week. According to the Federal Labor Agency, responsible for carrying out the investigation, the subcontractor in question, Trenkwalder, has been operating legally and without problem in Germany for more than a decade. The company, based in Austria, has not yet commented on the investigation. Unlike in the United States, where temp work is considered a way to gain experience or pave the way to more permanent employment, Germans tend to be more skeptical of temporary work situations, given that they do not provide employees with the same generous benefits packages that accompany most full-time positions here. Germany is the most important overseas market for Amazon, which is based in Seattle. The retailer has been looking to expand further here to meet growing demand. It recorded revenues of $8.7 billion in Germany in 2012, part of the $61 billion it generated worldwide. |