Online retailer Amazon said Friday it has paid $1.9 million to more than 700 contract workers in Saudi Arabia in compensation for illegal recruitment fees, among other alleged violations.
In October, Amnesty International accused Amazon of a series of abuses against workers in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, prompting the US-based multinational to launch an investigation.
“We found cases where contract workers were asked to pay fees, including recruitment fees and other expenses” by Saudi recruitment agents and labor supply companies, Amazon said in a statement posted on its website.
The investigation revealed other violations of her company policies, including “substandard accommodations, contract and wage irregularities and delays in resolving employee complaints,” it said.
As a result, “Amazon paid $1.9 million in compensation to more than 700 contract workers,” the statement added.
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Amnesty’s report was based on the accounts of 22 men from Nepal who worked in warehouses in Riyadh or the Saudi Arabian coastal city of Jeddah since 2021, according to the London-based human rights group.
It found that migrant workers working in Amazon warehouses in Saudi Arabia suffered “terrible” living conditions, occupational safety hazards and wage theft.
Amnesty accused recruitment agents and two Saudi labor supply companies of duping migrant workers into thinking they would be employed directly by Amazon and taking out large loans to pay recruitment fees.
Labor supply companies have also threatened to impose heavy fines on workers who want to end their contracts, effectively locking them in the Gulf kingdom, the rights group said.
Responding to Amazon’s compensation, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty’s head of economic and social justice, called the move a “vital step” but said more needed to be done.
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“The remedy should also be extended to hundreds of other Amazon contract workers who have already left the company or the country,” he said in a statement.
They are likely to have faced similar abuses such as fraud, wage theft and hefty recruitment fees. They also deserve justice and compensation.”
Source: AFP