Amazon fires 'neo-Nazi' German security firm
Internet giant Amazon said Monday that it has fired a
German security firm following reports that temporary staff at one of its
logistics centers in Germany were unfairly treated by security staff with
alleged neo-Nazi links.
Hensel European Security Services's (HESS) methods were
the subject of a documentary last week by the German TV channel ARD, which used
secret filming to establish how the firm harassed and intimidated foreign
workers and also how some of its military-style employees appeared to have
far-right allegiances.
The firm itself has strongly denied such links and said
in a statement that it itself employs many immigrants. "We employ
Christians, Muslims and Buddhists," the company said in a statement on
Friday. "The allegations of far-right sympathies can't be reconciled with
that."
However, the German TV documentary revealed 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.
The documentary alleged that HESS regularly searched
temporary staff members' accommodation and even frisked them after breakfast,
to check that they did not steal rolls. On Friday, Amazon said it was looking
into the allegations, but early on Monday the US company said it had parted
ways with HESS.
A number of immigrant workers featured in the film
testified about the treatment they were subjected to by security guards the
company employed to "keep the order."
The film depicts guards in military-style uniforms
patrolling the hostels and other budget accommodations housing the mostly
foreign workforce. Employees described the atmosphere of fear and intimidation
they said the guards incited.
"They tell us they are the police here," a
Spanish woman stressed in the film. Another worker told ARD that she had been
intimidated into leaving the chalet where she was living with five others for
drying her clothes on a radiator.
Photographic evidence showed that the guards repeatedly
conducted searches of workers' quarters without any prior warning.
Amazon’s spokeswoman in Germany, Ulrike Stoecker, told AP
that Amazon has a "zero tolerance limit for discrimination and
intimidation and expects the same of other companies it works with."
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