Jeff Bezos’ founder and former CEO of Amazon Inc (NASDAQ:AMZN) thanked the company’s employees and customers for his space mission with “you guys paid for all this.” The message, however, is at odds with Amazon’s record of employee mismanagement accusations.
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“Thank You”
“I want to thank every Amazon employee and every Amazon customer because you guys paid for all of this,” Bezos said during a post-flight press conference.
“Seriously, for every Amazon customer out there and every Amazon employee, thank you from the bottom of my heart very much. It’s very appreciated.”
However, Bezos’ appreciation comes after being accused on numerous occasions of mismanaging his workforce and infringing labor rights, according to MSNBC.
Company couriers have reported having to urinate in water bottles because delivery times prevented them from going to the bathroom en route, due to tight delivery times.
When the firm’s official news account denied the accusations, journalists revealed documents showing that Amazon was even aware of employees having to defecate in bags because they had so many deliveries in their allotted time.
Other Accusations
While Jeff Bezos is worth $200 billion, Amazon has faced numerous accusations of decreasing every time it opens new facilities. According to The Economist, “when Amazon entered Lexington County, South Carolina, annual earnings for warehouse workers dropped from $47,000 to $32,000.”
Reveal News disclosed an investigation last September stating that the company’s serious injury rate “was twice the industry average.” When requested for comment, Amazon refused.
The outlet has also stated that the constant stress injuries have become a severe issue in Amazon warehouses. “Reveal found that they are often the result of aggressive productivity targets that are nearly impossible to meet, and the company won’t reduce them.”
In early July, company workers in New York reported that their workplaces were getting extremely hot due to the heatwave, causing people to get nosebleeds and to faint.
Recently, as reported by Vice, a female worker in Tracy, California, suffered a miscarriage after Amazon rejected any kind of accommodation, as recommended by her doctor. “Amazon didn’t provide a response despite multiple emails and calls from Vice.”
Amazon is part of the Entrepreneur Index, which tracks 60 of the largest publicly traded companies managed by their founders or their founders’ families.