“I can`t stand here and defend you when your colleagues say you`re not doing your job,” she says. She left the company after just over a year. The aptly named Ethical Shop is owned and managed by New Internationalist Magazine. They can sort brands based on their values and/or selected causes, and the company works closely with ethical, environmentally friendly and fair suppliers. Amazon has partnered with Chinese tech company Hikvision. [173] According to The Nation, “the United States considered sanctioning Hikvision, which provided thousands of cameras to monitor mosques, schools, and concentration camps in Xinjiang.” [173] More than any other company I can imagine, Amazon seems to have built its profit-maximizing strategy on tax avoidance at various levels. During the pandemic, Amazon bought cameras as part of a $10 million deal that capture the temperature of the company`s people, helping to control and imprison Muslim minorities. Despite the negative press Amazon received for its poor worker protection at the start of the pandemic, the online retail giant continued its explosive growth. In the third quarter, the company tripled its profit. The company`s early response to the pandemic has been heavily criticized. After the company fired workers who were speaking out against working conditions, Tim Bray, a senior engineer, resigned. In a personal blog post, he wrote: “Remaining vice president of Amazon would indeed have meant signing actions that I despised.
So I resigned. The statement then lists the steps the company is taking to work with international organizations, distribute PPE and support workers. The question remains, if Amazon pays and protects workers fairly, why shouldn`t this information be available? In June 2018, Amazon employees signed a letter asking Amazon to abandon Palantir, a data collection company, as an AWS customer. According to Forbes, Palantir “has come under scrutiny because its software has been used by ICE agents to identify and initiate deportation proceedings against undocumented migrants.” [174] [175] In 2018, Amazon`s CO2 emissions were higher than those of other delivery services such as UPS and FedEx and other technology competitors such as Apple, Google and Microsoft. Instead of actively working to reduce the company`s climate impact, Amazon prioritizes its public image by giving grants to green organizations. Due to its size and economies of scale, Amazon is able to outperform small local merchants. [117] Stacy Mitchell and Olivia Lavecchia, researchers at the Institute for Local Self-Reliance, argue that this has led to the closure of most small local merchants in a number of towns and villages across the United States. Also, a merchant cannot sell an item in the warehouse to Amazon if they also offer it.
Monopolization of product and price. Several times, fraudulent fees were charged through the company`s banking and financial channels without authorization. because Amazon prides itself on storing all financial data permanently in its database. When they charge your account, they don`t refund the money to the account they debited it from, but only provide an Amazon balance. In addition, there is no dealer customer support, which sometimes needs to be managed in real time. [118] During the COVID-19 pandemic, Amazon`s warehouses in the U.S. increased their hourly wage by $2 and announced that employees who tested positive would be entitled to 14 days of paid leave. After the company said two workers at the Staten Island camp had been infected, workers said the number was 10.
On March 30, 2020, between 15 and 60 people went on strike to demand that Amazon temporarily close the warehouse to disinfect it. [83] The lead organizer, Chris Smalls, was later fired, allegedly for violating social distancing policies. At this point, I think we`ve all heard something fishy about Amazon. A smell of unethical practice, a lost item about something in their warehouses. But when a mega-company begins to become ubiquitous and ubiquitous in our daily lives, it`s hard to imagine an alternative. Amazon has reached such a height that it may seem like a necessary evil in modern society to many, and it may seem almost pointless to learn why they are problematic. If it`s inevitable, it`s better not to know how serious it is. With revenue of $96.15 billion in the third quarter, the company has already recorded a year of record profits, and holiday shopping hasn`t even been factored in. In 1999, Amazon Bookstore Cooperative of Minneapolis, Minnesota, sued amazon.com for trademark infringement. The cooperative had been using the name “Amazon” since 1970, but amicably agreed to share the name with the online retailer.
[183] Amazon has been repeatedly criticized for the quality of its work environments and the treatment of its workforce. A group called Amazon FACE (Former And Current Employees) regularly used social media to spread criticism of the company and allegations of negative working conditions. [53] [54] In November 2018, Amazon entered into an agreement with Apple Inc. to sell certain products through the Service, through the Company, certain Apple authorized resellers, and suppliers who meet certain criteria. Through this partnership, only Apple Authorized Resellers who purchase $2.5 million worth of refurbished inventory from Apple every 90 days (as part of the Amazon Renewed program) can sell Apple products through the Service. [46] [47] [48] The partnership has been criticized by independent resellers who believe the deal has limited their ability to sell refurbished Apple products on Amazon at low cost. In August 2019, The Verge reported that Amazon was under FTC investigation into the settlement. [49] A November 2016 study by the Institute for Local Self Reliance, a community advocacy group for community development, analyzed more than 1,300 payroll notices on Glassdoor and found that positions in Amazon`s fulfillment centers paid about 9% less than the industry average. And when the researchers looked at 11 major metropolitan areas to account for differences in the cost of living, they found that Amazon`s decline in wages was even more pronounced: the company paid 15% less than comparable positions in each region. A January 2018 study by The Economist, which used different methods, found similar results. Similarly, Ring security devices (including video doorbells) have a close relationship with law enforcement, while in 2020 the company was the subject of a class action lawsuit “by more than 30 people in 15 families who claim their devices were hacked and used to harass them.” In December 2015, The Guardian newspaper published an article about sales that violated UK law. [144] These included a pepper gun (sold directly by amazon.co.uk), stun guns, and a hidden edged weapon (sold by Amazon Marketplace merchants).
All are classified as banned weapons in the UK. At the same time, The Guardian published a video describing some of the weapons. [145] The 1. On the day of the Amazon workers` protest strike in May,[89] Tim Bray, vice president of Amazon Web Services, resigned in protest of the company`s treatment of workers. [90] [91] [92] A few weeks earlier, in mid-April, Bray had been alarmed by the attacks and firings of Amazon warehouse employees for demanding safe working conditions, and had raised these concerns among senior management. Bray previously supported the Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) workers` campaign to support shareholders in Amazon`s climate action. He was one of 8000+ employees who signed this petition. Take Amazon Prime, for example. This is undeniably a significant amount. In the UK, as an Amazon Prime customer, you pay £10 per month for unlimited one-day delivery at no extra cost. It cost the company $28 billion in 2018, but they clearly think it`s worth it in the long run.
Groups such as the Interfaith Center on Corporate Responsibility (ICCR) use shareholder advocacy to push companies on these environmental, social and governance issues. For example, a group of investor activists affiliated with ICCR presented Amazon with 15 proposals, including requests to report on the environmental and social impacts of the company`s food waste; an independent study of the impact of their facial recognition technology on civil liberties; a report on their efforts to counter hate speech; and a review of sexual harassment policies. Amazon`s board recommended voting against all proposals. Stacy Mitchell of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance has been studying Amazon`s business practices for years and is troubled by how the company not only appears to be the leading online retailer, but also wants to control the underlying infrastructure of commerce — and beyond. The research suggests: “Some of the salary calculations at his facility have been incorrect since it opened more than a year ago. Up to 179 other company warehouses may also have been affected. Amazon has been sued for selling foie gras in states where it is illegal.