Amazon 'used neo-Nazi guards to keep immigrant workforce under control' in Germany

[ВАЛТЕР]

This is pretty fucked up, however it doesn't surprise me as fascism is rearing its ugly head in Europe once more.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/europe/amazon-used-neonazi-guards-to-keep-immigrant-workforce-under-control-in-germany-8495843.html


Amazon 'used neo-Nazi guards to keep immigrant workforce under control' in Germany



Amazon is at the centre of a deepening scandal in Germany as the online shopping giant faced claims that it employed security guards with neo-Nazi connections to intimidate its foreign workers.
Germany’s ARD television channel made the allegations in a documentary about Amazon’s treatment of more than 5,000 temporary staff from across Europe to work at its German packing and distribution centres.
The film showed omnipresent guards from a company named HESS Security wearing black uniforms, boots and with military haircuts. They were employed to keep order at hostels and budget hotels where foreign workers stayed. “Many of the workers are afraid,” the programme-makers said.
The documentary provided photographic evidence showing that guards regularly searched the bedrooms and kitchens of foreign staff. “They tell us they are the police here,” a Spanish woman complained. Workers were allegedly frisked to check they had not walked away with breakfast rolls.
Another worker called Maria said she was thrown out of the cramped chalet she shared with five others because she had dried her wet clothes on a wall heater. She said she was confronted by a muscular, tattooed security man and told to leave. The guards then shone car headlights at her in her chalet while she packed in an apparent attempt to intimidate her.
Several guards were shown wearing Thor Steinar clothing – a Berlin-based designer brand synonymous with the far-right in Germany. The Bundesliga football association and the federal parliament have both banned the label because of its neo-Nazi associations. Ironically, Amazon stopped selling the clothing for the same reasons in 2009.
ARD suggested that the name “HESS Security” was an allusion to Adolf Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess. It alleged that its director was a man, named only as Uwe L, who associated with football hooligans and convicted neo-Nazis who were known to police. The programme-makers, who booked in at one of the budget hotels where Amazon staff were housed, said they were arrested by HESS Security guards after being caught using cameras. They were ordered to hand over their film and, when they refused, were held for nearly an hour before police arrived and freed them. The film showed HESS guards scuffling with the camera crew and trying to cover their lenses.
ARD said Amazon’s temporary staff worked eight-hour shifts packing goods at the company’s logistics centres in Bad Hersfeld, Konstanz and Augsburg. Many walked up to 17 kilometres per shift and all those taken on could be fired at will. On arrival in Germany, most were told their pay had been cut to below the rate promised when they applied for jobs at Amazon. “They don’t see any way of complaining,” said Heiner Reimann, a spokesman for the United Services Union (Ver.di). “They are all too frightened of being sent home without a job.”
Silvina, a Spanish mother of three in her 50s, who lost her job as an art teacher, was featured in the film. She applied for three months’ work with Amazon to earn some badly needed cash. “It’s like being in a machine and we are just a small part in this machine,” she told the programme.
HESS Security did not respond to the allegations made by ARD.
Amazon employs 7,700 full-time staff at seven distrubution centres in Germany. The accusations led to the company’s Facebook site being inundated with angry complaints.
The company said: “Although the security firm was not contracted by Amazon we are, of course, currently examining the allegations concerning the behaviour of security guards and will take the appropriate measures immediately. We do not tolerate discrimination or intimidation.”

[The Idler]

Pretty disgusting. But it shows the futility of anti-fascist activity instead of doing away with capitalism.

[Sasha]

Pretty disgusting. But it shows the futility of anti-fascist activity instead of doing away with capitalism.

Does it? It makes me pretty glad to know that I work for an security "firm" consisting of dedicated anti-fascists, that there are more and more of those groups like those out there. Sure its technically reformism but so is than any non-revolutionary union. Of course we should be very critical of unions (and anti-fascist but commercial private security companies for that matter) but I don't think they should be our primary concern. The revolution, and organizations striving for the revolution, will and already does need dedicated anti-fascist activity to stand a chance.
Obviously it should be militant anti-fascism and without making our self dependent on those yanking the fascist chain but we shouldnt advocate some kind of scorched earth leftism. Pretty ironic that sometimes the critique of anti-fascism almost makes them end up pretty damn close to the "after the Nazis, us" as advocated by some despised factions in the German interbellum.

[black magick hustla]

company thugs are always used to terrorize immigrants. they all behave the same in spite of them being neonazis or not. who cares if the bosses use "anti fascist" thugs to keep in line immigrants or not (lol antifascist security firm what a joke)

[Sasha]

(lol antifascist security firm what a joke)

Who will you depend on to protect concerts, social spaces and political meetings against everything from fash invasions, hard drug dealers who take control or sexual predators?the cops? Some intoxicated macho hotheads looking for some aggro? Who will you trust with fire & safety? With (drug related) first aid? Lack of "professional", sober and experience ppl committed to their given job (even when doing it voluntarily as I do often) gets ppl killed.
We need a militia with popular support to protect ourselves and our own, since outside of the US forming a militia is illegal, and for example here in the netherlands having private security is more or less mandatory for any place or meeting that holds more than a few hundred ppl organising your stewards in some form of an official way is pretty useful..
Of course my group, nor the groups I know in Germany, will never take a job as the one with Amazon, but say concert venues (where I work) need some form legal but not thuggish "security" (in our group we use the term "sfeerbeheer", atmosphere management). And my experience, diploma's, permit etc I use again to train the volunteers at autonomous centers/squat bars.

[ВАЛТЕР]

I've worked security at small bars and concerts before. I guess I am a class-traitor then. :/

All I really did was try and keep the line in order, never broke up a strike or something.

[The Idler]

That antifa protect concerts attendees and bars customers but not factory workers or office workers at their workplaces shows just how "scene"/street cred antifa is.

[black magick hustla]

Who will you depend on to protect concerts, social spaces and political meetings against everything from fash invasions, hard drug dealers who take control or sexual predators?the cops? Some intoxicated macho hotheads looking for some aggro? Who will you trust with fire & safety? With (drug related) first aid? Lack of "professional", sober and experience ppl committed to their given job (even when doing it voluntarily as I do often) gets ppl killed.
We need a militia with popular support to protect ourselves and our own, since outside of the US forming a militia is illegal, and for example here in the netherlands having private security is more or less mandatory for any place or meeting that holds more than a few hundred ppl organising your stewards in some form of an official way is pretty useful..
Of course my group, nor the groups I know in Germany, will never take a job as the one with Amazon, but say concert venues (where I work) need some form legal but not thuggish "security" (in our group we use the term "sfeerbeheer", atmosphere management). And my experience, diploma's, permit etc I use again to train the volunteers at autonomous centers/squat bars.

yeah, bouncers are different from thuggish overseers hired by bosses to discipline workers though. my point is that the political beliefs of overseers are irrelevant and amazon's thugs used to discipline immigrants would behave the same regardless of beliefs

[Sasha]

That antifa protect concerts attendees and bars customers but not factory workers or office workers at their workplaces shows just how "scene"/street cred antifa is.

Yeah, because we never defend pickets, or the kurdish centers recently when they where under fash attack, or illegals during demonstrations..
Maybe you shouldnt be throwing out claims before you know what you are talking about.
But yeah, of course we dont work security at factories or offices you dolt, as the case in the OP shows security at those places arent there to protect the workers or the visitors, they are there to protect only the interests of the bosses against the workers...
Contrarary to you it seems, we do know where to draw our lines...

[The Idler]

Too bad if the Amazon workers went on a picket or demonstrated they'd not be welcome on Monday morning. I hope they would get help then, but I suspect the better political activity would be to overthrow capitalism than join the antifa side of the lines drawn by antifa with Amazon bosses who have stated "they are against discrimination and intimidation".

[Yet_Another_Boring_Marxist]

Too bad if the Amazon workers went on a picket or demonstrated they'd not be welcome on Monday morning. I hope they would get help then, but I suspect the better political activity would be to overthrow capitalism than join the antifa side of the lines drawn by antifa with Amazon bosses who have stated "they are against discrimination and intimidation".

Opposing fascism is a concrete action. See fascism over there? organize against it. Fascists beating up minorities? Defend them. Fascists harrasing queerfolk? Defend them. It's not easy, but it material action that connects us with the working class.

How on earth then do you suggest the overthrow of capitalism as a better alternative as political action? You can't overthrow capitalism without a revolution, and you can't have revolution without people to support it. How do you get people to support your party? Simple, do things that are relevant to their lives in concrete ways, not abstract ones. Anti-fascism is a good course of action because it links us with the most oppressed strata of proletarians, that is the illegal proletariat, the racialized proletariat, the queer proletariat, and the urban precariat. So the question becomes, why wouldn't you want to oppose fascism?

[The Idler]

Opposing fascism is a concrete action. See fascism over there? organize against it.

How on earth then do you suggest the overthrow of capitalism as a better alternative as political action? You can't overthrow capitalism without a revolution, and you can't have revolution without people to support it. How do you get people to support your party? Simple, do things that are relevant to their lives in concrete ways, not abstract ones. Anti-fascism is a good course of action because it links us with the most oppressed strata of proletarians, that is the illegal proletariat, the racialized proletariat, the queer proletariat, and the urban precariat. So the question becomes, why wouldn't you want to oppose fascism?
The risk is a vested interest in playing up fascism as a special kind of capitalism at the expense of opposing capitalism more generally. If you attract support on antifascist grounds, you'll get support on antifascist grounds not anticapitalist grounds.

[Sasha]

No other kind of capitalist ever tried to stab me to death for being a lefty, so yeah, fash are a special kind of capitalist.
I don't fight the bosses as I fight the cops, I don't fight cops as I fight reformist liberals, I don't fight any other enemy as I fight fash because they threaten me in different ways and thus require not only different tactics, but yeah, they also rank all a bit different on my priority list.

[black magick hustla]

No other kind of capitalist ever tried to stab me to death for being a lefty, so yeah, fash are a special kind of capitalist.


honestly i've soften my line on fighting nazis a lot cuz' i think in some circumstances it can be a matter of survival but something tells me some1 tried to stab u cuz u were picking a fight with him in the first place :)

[Sasha]

honestly i've soften my line on fighting nazis a lot cuz' i think in some circumstances it can be a matter of survival but something tells me some1 tried to stab u cuz u were picking a fight with him in the first place :)

nope, just enjoying my beer at a (black artist) concert in a non-political venue (my current work place actually, hence why i take some pride in getting the place nazi free now)
my jewish last name and being a know lefty bumping into an upstart fash wanting to make a name for himself was all it took.

[Sasha]

anyways, back to the OT, amazon ended the contracted with the nazi firm;


Amazon Fires ‘Neo-Nazi’ Security Firm at German Facilities

By Ollie John (http://world.time.com/author/timecontributor6/)
Feb. 19, 2013
inShare





http://timeglobalspin.files.wordpress.com/2013/02/rtr3boel.jpg?w=360&h=240&crop=1
Michael Dalder / REUTERSWorkers at Amazon's logistics center in Graben, Germany, on Dec. 17, 2012
Online retailer Amazon has fired a German security firm which staff allegedly bullied foreign workers and had links to the neo-Nazi movement.
A documentary aired on German TV alleged that employees of Hensel European Security Services, or HESS, intimidated and harassed seasonal workers at three of Amazon’s German distribution centers, reports (http://www.telegraph.co.uk/technology/amazon/9879295/Amazon-sacks-neo-Nazi-security-firm.html) the Daily Telegraph.
Security staff, outfitted with black uniforms and military-style haircuts, would routinely search workers’ belongings at their cramped temporary housing at a vacant holiday park, the documentary claimed. Some employees of HESS — an acronym the documentary claimed is a direct reference to Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess — were shown wearing a clothing brand, Thor Steinar, which is linked to the neo-Nazi scene, writes the Telegraph. The documentary also alleged that HESS is headed by a man with links to soccer hooligans.


“As a responsible employer of approximately 8,000 salaried logistics employees, Amazon has zero tolerance for discrimination and intimidation and expects the same from every company we work with,” Amazon told (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/0/1e184668-79d6-11e2-9015-00144feabdc0.html#axzz2LMe3uVGJ) the Financial Times.
But Amazon itself also came under scrutiny: the company, which has about 7,700 people on staff in Germany and hires additional temporary workers at peak times, paid the foreign workers less than the advertised rate, the documentary alleged. One woman from Spain claimed her contract with Amazon was terminated without explanation the day after she complained about the behavior of the security staff, Sky News reports (http://news.sky.com/story/1053720/amazon-fires-neo-nazi-guards-in-germany).
The company has faced repeated criticism over working conditions in its European distribution centers. Amazon workers in Germany have long complained of intense pressure, random searches and short breaks, notes the Telegraph. And a recent investigation (http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/ed6a985c-70bd-11e2-85d0-00144feab49a.html#slide0) by the Times revealed that workers at an Amazon warehouse in the U.K. walked from 11 km to 24 km per day.


Read more: http://world.time.com/2013/02/19/amazon-fires-neo-nazi-security-firm-at-german-facilities/#ixzz2LRvPYYxM

[Ravachol]

honestly i've soften my line on fighting nazis a lot cuz' i think in some circumstances it can be a matter of survival but something tells me some1 tried to stab u cuz u were picking a fight with him in the first place :)

You know my position on antifascism which is probably closer to yours (though not identical) than most others on this forum but that seriously doesn't have to be the case. In Germany, for example, fash seeking out leftist or immigrant meeting centers which don't even go near them is quite common and even here in the Netherlands there have been plenty of cases of fash smashing windows/picking fights at squats which weren't even aware of the fash presence. I've personally had some run-ins (at the worst possible time, having a hangover and trying to catch the first train back home) with fash who started shit 'cause it was pretty obvious I was an anarchist.

In Italy its quite the same, with even the leftcom Batagglia Communista (Italian ICT section) having their offices attacked and trashed by fash and having their militants intimidated during a picket.

I agree there's a huge danger in 'antifascism proper', esp. in the current climate where I see all kinds of leftists calling for united fronts against shit like Golden Dawn which is a) political stupidity b) historically bankrupt. But that doesn't mean communist militants of all stripes shouldn't use self-defense or active intervention against fash when they see fit. Its just not that big a deal at this point in history, that's all.