Amazon has been accused of improper and illegal conduct often in its relatively short corporate lifespan, primarily for its treatment of employees (making them pee in bottles is a popular cost-saving strategy). Yet it has easily avoided consequences since it first started killing independents in 1994. Legal charges slide off Amazon like rainwater off Jezz Bezos’ shiny bald head, until now.
Credit: Yahoo Finance
OSHA, the Occupational Health and Safety Office, first surveyed a number of Amazon’s warehouses in the summer of last year after they received referrals from the office of the United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York. In December, they issued citations to six of the facilities, alleging massive safety hazards involving strenuous physical activity, falling debris, and heightened risk of death, in addition to shift lengths that approach or exceed the bounds of legality. They also claimed that Amazon failed to report proper injury numbers to the administration. In a similar vein, the Civil Division of the Office of the United States Attorney of the Southern District of New York is investigating Amazon for fraud relating to reported injury numbers to potential investors. The Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labour, and Pensions, led by Senator Bernie Sanders, is also investigating Amazon’s unsafe working conditions, which it claims are directly contributing to Amazon’s immense wealth and industry success. From 2017 to 2021, Amazon warehouse injuries were about twice the national average. Amazon workers experience more injuries than all employees at all other warehouses combined. Amazon also refuses to provide healthcare coverage to injured workers, some of whom are taken away by medical emergencies and never come back. Workers report that nothing has changed since they put in the citations.
There’s more. The Federal Trade Commission, which is in charge of maintaining fair competition in the marketplace, has filed an antitrust lawsuit against Amazon with the support of attorney generals from 17 states. They alleged that the electrical commerce giant has been stifling competition, overcharging sellers and consumers, and generally engaging in monopolistic tactics. Amazon’s current market share in the digital commerce sector is 37.8. Its closest competitor, Walmart, has about 6.
The official text of the lawsuit filed by the Federal Trade Commission (found here) says, “Amazon has hiked so steeply the fees it charges sellers that it now reportedly takes close to half [original emphasis] of every dollar.” Amazon started an initiative internally called Project Nessie, which has already extracted a redacted amount of money from American households. The publicly available lawsuit is heavily censored. The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concludes on page 6 that, “Amazon has engaged in an unlawful monopolistic strategy.”
In a completely different case, Amazon has already paid over 30 million dollars to FTC for using its Ring and Alexa products to violate the privacy of consumers, including that of children. Amazon had been collecting personal and geographic information on customers for years, even after people requested specifically for the data to be deleted. Employees could also freely access the data and the cameras it came from. One employee used Ring cameras to spy on 81 women in their bathrooms. The FTC has issued an order that will protect children’s data under the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act, which has yet to be approved by a federal judge.
Amazon is one of many American companies currently engaging in union-busting, which is the illegal practice of discouraging the formation of unions among employees or punishing those who join. Of course, union-busting is a massive American industry. A judge for the National Labor Relations Board recently ruled that Amazon broke labor law by threatening to withhold wages and benefits from employees trying to unionize, though he dismissed 19 other complaints.
This should not be surprising news. Amazon has been credibly accused of innumerable violations of OSHA safety laws, shift laws, privacy laws, and antitrust laws for over a decade. They have acquired a massive share of the market, far beyond any competitor, by exploiting their customers, partners, and employees. Its founder, Jeff Bezos, is generally considered the third richest man in the world, and was at one time the richest, before his multi-million dollar divorce.
The only way he reached the top of the world was by stepping atop the bent backs of his workers. What will happen when they stand up?