Amazon to pay $1.9 million to settle contract workers’ human rights claims

Amazon will pay $1.9 million to more than 700 migrant workers to settle claims of human rights violations following abusive employment contracts, The affected workers worked in two of the company’s warehouses in Saudi Arabia.

Amazon claiming to have hired a third-party labor rights expert to investigate conditions in warehouses. The organization found numerous violations of Amazon’s supply chain standards, including “substandard housing, contract and wage irregularities, and delays in resolving worker complaints.”

This follows a last October, which detailed various allegations of human rights abuses suffered by those hired to work at Amazon facilities in the region, and noted that many of the affected workers were “highly likely to be victims of human trafficking. The report also suggests that Amazon was aware of the high risk of labor abuses when operating in Saudi Arabia, but still did not take sufficient measures to prevent such abuses.

Simultaneous reports from the International Consortium of Investigative Journalists and the Arab Reporters for Investigative Journalism provided detailed accounts of the conditions under which these workers allegedly suffered, Investigations revealed that workers were required to pay illegal recruitment fees of up to $2,040 to be hired. This forced migrant workers, many of whom were from Nepal, to take out loans at high interest rates.

Investigators also learned that these workers lived in squalid conditions, with one claiming to live “in a crowded room with seven other men, filled with bunk beds infested with bed bugs.” The water was said to be salty and undrinkable. Amnesty International echoed these findings, saying the accommodations “lacked even the most basic facilities”.

The combination of exorbitant hiring fees, as well as associated loans, amounted to “human trafficking for the purposes of labor exploitation as defined by international law and standards”, Amnesty said in its report.

Amazon said it had “resolved the most serious issues” at the two Saudi warehouses, including upgrading accommodation. “Our goal is that all our suppliers have management systems that guarantee safe and healthy working conditions; this includes responsible recruiting practices,” the company wrote.

It’s worth noting that while that $1.9 million figure seems high, it comes out to around $2,700 per employee. Made by Amazon which represents more than 1.5 billion dollars every day.

Amazon doesn’t have a great labor track record. The company is also vehemently anti-union, as many of these complaints involve Amazon facing several ongoing federal investigations into its security practices, and that it has been fined by federal security regulators for

However, the company remains rebellious in its efforts to chip away at workers’ rights. Amazon claiming the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) is unconstitutional, joining Elon Musk’s SpaceX and grocery giant Trader Joe’s. The NLRB is an independent branch of the federal government that enforces American labor law and has operated since 1935.

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