Online retailer Amazon reacted to mounting criticism Monday by firing a
security company named in a German television documentary about alleged
mistreatment of foreign temporary workers.
An Amazon spokeswoman in
Germany said the company had ended its relationship with Hensel European
Security Services "with immediate effect."
"Amazon has a zero
tolerance limit for discrimination and intimidation and expects the same
of other companies we work with," spokeswoman Ulrike Stoecker said in
an email to The Associated Press.
A documentary shown on German
public television channel ARD last week showed staff of the security
company whose initials spell out the surname of Adolf Hitler's deputy
Rudolf Hess - wearing clothes linked to Germany's neo-Nazi scene. It
also interviewed people claiming they were intimidated by the security
guards, who were stationed at a holiday camp where the temporary staff
were housed.
The company, hired by one of Amazon's subcontractors,
last week denied it supported far-right opinions. "We employ
Christians, Muslims and Buddhists," the company said in a statement
Friday. "The allegations of far-right sympathies can't be reconciled
with that."
The ARD documentary alleged 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.
The ARD report echoes
allegations by German union ver.di, which says Amazon's temporary
workers face particular difficulties because many have been brought in
from other European countries and don't understand that they are
protected by Germany's stringent labor laws.
The German government
said the Federal Labor Agency is investigating an Amazon subcontractor,
which it didn't name, in the wake of the documentary.
"We expect
the results of the special investigation during the course of the week,"
Labor Ministry spokeswoman Christina Wendt told reporters Monday.
"There is the option, if mistreatment actually took place, of removing (the subcontractor's) license," she added.