Amazon Hired 'Neo-Nazis' to Cow Workers: Probe

German TV doc accuses retailer of getting nasty
By Neal Colgrass,  Newser Staff
Posted Feb 16, 2013 5:10 PM CST
Amazon Hired 'Neo-Nazis' to Cow Workers: Probe
The logo for Amazon.com is displayed at a news conference, Wednesday, Sept. 28, 2011 in New York.   (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)

One newspaper is calling it a "shitstorm": A German TV documentary claims that Amazon used security guards linked to neo-Nazis to bully and frisk temporary foreign workers. According to the story, Amazon in Germany employed guards from the firm HESS, which is headed by a man accused of having links to convicted neo-Nazis and wing-nut football hooligans. The very name HESS may allude to Adolf Hitler's deputy, Rudolf Hess, reports Digital Journal.

The undercover investigation found guards searching foreign employees' rooms and, according to one worker, saying "we are the police here." The guards also wore black boots and uniforms, an outfit associated with neo-Nazis. And the report showed workers who said they were paid less than promised. "They don't see any way of complaining," says a union rep. "They are all too frightened of being sent home without a job." Amazon promises to investigate the claims. (More Neo-Nazi stories.)

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