Post by Editor on Feb 15, 2013 15:21:53 GMT
Fury over Amazon's 'neo-Nazi, black-clad' German security staff who 'intimidate foreign workers'
Amazon employed HESS Security to 'intimidate foreign workers'
Security staff wore black uniforms from label with neo-Nazi connotations
Documentary claim foreign workers were regularly frisked for food
By SARA MALM
PUBLISHED: 09:53, 15 February 2013 | UPDATED: 10:36, 15 February 2013
Internet shopping giant Amazon is tackling a spiralling security scandal in Germany after it is claimed the company employed security with neo-Nazi links to intimidate its foreign workers.
German documentary makers have filmed black-clad guards with military haircuts from the ominous-sounding HESS security, employed to keep Amazon’s over 5,000 foreign employees in check.
The film, broadcast on Germany’s ARD television channel, investigate the treatment of workers brought in as temporary staff at the company’s centres in Bad Hersfeld, Konstanz and Augsburg and unveiled a culture of threats and bullying.
Intimidated: Foreign workers employed by Amazon's at their distribution centres in Germany (pictured) were 'threatened' by security staff dressed in 'neo-Nazi uniform', a documentary claim
The staff come from across Europe for temporary work at packing and distribution centres and stay in budget hotels and youth hostels where the HESS Security guards patrol.
The boot-wearing guards dress in uniforms from designer brand Thor Steinar, a label which carries strong neo-Nazi connotations, The Independent reports.
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The brand has been banned by both the German parliament and the Bundesliga football association and Amazon themselves stopped selling it in 2009 due to its symbolic far-right message.
The ARD documentary show the security guards searching bedrooms and kitchen at the foreign workers’ accommodation, allegedly frisking them for bread rolls when they leave breakfast in the morning.
‘They tell us they are the police here,’ a Spanish woman said.
Accused: Amazon allegedly employ the guards to patrol the hostels and budget hotels where their foreign workers stay near Bad Hersfeld, Germany
Another woman, named as Maria, claims she was thrown out of the accommodation she shared with five others for drying her clothes on a wall heater.
A black-clad, tattooed guard ordered her to leave and watched her as she packed and ‘shone car headlights at her’.
The documentary makers went undercover at one of the budget hotels used by Amazon for their staff and witnessed the brutal ways of HESS Security first hand.
When they were discovered with their cameras, the uniformed men demanded they handed over their footage and detained the journalists for nearly an hour when they refused.
ARD made further accusations against HESS Security, claiming its name is a reference to prolific Nazi Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, alleging that its director is associated with convicted neo-Nazis and football hooligans.
The conditions of Amazon’s workers were exposed further in the documentary, revealing that many walk over ten miles a day to get to their workplace.
Due to their temporary status, workers can be fired at will and many are paid less than they were promised.
‘They don’t see any way of complaining,’Heiner Reimann, a spokesman for the United Services Union (Ver.di) told ARD. ‘They are all too frightened of being sent home without a job.’
The security firm has not responded to the allegations and Amazon claim they were not contracted by them.
‘The security firm was not contracted by Amazon we are, of course, currently examining the allegations concerning the behaviour of security guards and will take the appropriate measures immediately,’ the company said in a statement.
‘We do not tolerate discrimination or intimidation.’
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279076/Fury-Amazons-neo-Nazi-black-clad-German-security-staff-intimidate-foreign-workers.html#ixzz2KyuMV6rm
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Amazon employed HESS Security to 'intimidate foreign workers'
Security staff wore black uniforms from label with neo-Nazi connotations
Documentary claim foreign workers were regularly frisked for food
By SARA MALM
PUBLISHED: 09:53, 15 February 2013 | UPDATED: 10:36, 15 February 2013
Internet shopping giant Amazon is tackling a spiralling security scandal in Germany after it is claimed the company employed security with neo-Nazi links to intimidate its foreign workers.
German documentary makers have filmed black-clad guards with military haircuts from the ominous-sounding HESS security, employed to keep Amazon’s over 5,000 foreign employees in check.
The film, broadcast on Germany’s ARD television channel, investigate the treatment of workers brought in as temporary staff at the company’s centres in Bad Hersfeld, Konstanz and Augsburg and unveiled a culture of threats and bullying.
Intimidated: Foreign workers employed by Amazon's at their distribution centres in Germany (pictured) were 'threatened' by security staff dressed in 'neo-Nazi uniform', a documentary claim
The staff come from across Europe for temporary work at packing and distribution centres and stay in budget hotels and youth hostels where the HESS Security guards patrol.
The boot-wearing guards dress in uniforms from designer brand Thor Steinar, a label which carries strong neo-Nazi connotations, The Independent reports.
More...
Online boom forces John Lewis to axe 325 managers, despite retailer being one of the strongest performers on the high street
Newly elected Tory crime commissioner resigns after Tweeting Hitler picture urging socialists 'to embrace their inner Nazism'
Inside the twisted world of the fans proud to support Zenit... Europe's most racist club
The brand has been banned by both the German parliament and the Bundesliga football association and Amazon themselves stopped selling it in 2009 due to its symbolic far-right message.
The ARD documentary show the security guards searching bedrooms and kitchen at the foreign workers’ accommodation, allegedly frisking them for bread rolls when they leave breakfast in the morning.
‘They tell us they are the police here,’ a Spanish woman said.
Accused: Amazon allegedly employ the guards to patrol the hostels and budget hotels where their foreign workers stay near Bad Hersfeld, Germany
Another woman, named as Maria, claims she was thrown out of the accommodation she shared with five others for drying her clothes on a wall heater.
A black-clad, tattooed guard ordered her to leave and watched her as she packed and ‘shone car headlights at her’.
The documentary makers went undercover at one of the budget hotels used by Amazon for their staff and witnessed the brutal ways of HESS Security first hand.
When they were discovered with their cameras, the uniformed men demanded they handed over their footage and detained the journalists for nearly an hour when they refused.
ARD made further accusations against HESS Security, claiming its name is a reference to prolific Nazi Rudolf Hess, Adolf Hitler’s right-hand man, alleging that its director is associated with convicted neo-Nazis and football hooligans.
The conditions of Amazon’s workers were exposed further in the documentary, revealing that many walk over ten miles a day to get to their workplace.
Due to their temporary status, workers can be fired at will and many are paid less than they were promised.
‘They don’t see any way of complaining,’Heiner Reimann, a spokesman for the United Services Union (Ver.di) told ARD. ‘They are all too frightened of being sent home without a job.’
The security firm has not responded to the allegations and Amazon claim they were not contracted by them.
‘The security firm was not contracted by Amazon we are, of course, currently examining the allegations concerning the behaviour of security guards and will take the appropriate measures immediately,’ the company said in a statement.
‘We do not tolerate discrimination or intimidation.’
Read more: www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2279076/Fury-Amazons-neo-Nazi-black-clad-German-security-staff-intimidate-foreign-workers.html#ixzz2KyuMV6rm
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