Following reports that temporary staff at one of its logistics centers in Germany were unfairly treated by security staff with alleged neo-Nazi links, Amazon has said today that it has fired the company “with immediate effect.”
According to the AP, Amazon’s spokeswoman in Germany, Ulrike Stoecker, said the company has parted ways with Hensel European Security Services after it was revealed in a German TV documentary that the company wore uniforms linked to the neo-Nazi scene with “HESS” written across the chest, which also spells out the name of Adolf Hitler’s deputy Rudolf Hess.
While the security company denied any links with far-right movements, Stoecker told the AP that Amazon has a “zero tolerance limit for discrimination and intimidation and expects the same of other companies it works with.”
Amazon’s logistics centers are known for their fast turnover, use of employee tracking and heavy workloads. According to German unions, workers have complained of the intense pressure, random searches and short breaks in recent years.
With calls from German consumers to boycott the company, Amazon has moved quickly to cut all ties with its German security providers. A number of locals in Frankfurt, where the center is based, had already voted with their wallets by insisting they wouldn’t use Amazon’s services following the documentary.
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