We need data to be sure of this. Remember when all those people making iPhones committed suicide because of the terrible working conditions [1]?
But further investigation then found that suicide rates amongst workers were actually lower than suicide rates of regular people in China or the USA...
This might well be a story like that. Without data we can't know.
Seems to be absolutely the case here. The worker has reported to his "leader" that he's feeling unwell but was ignored. I'd expect criminal charges to be brought against him at this point.
I think Amazon can implement whatever solution they want, but if your manager ignores a very direct report of feeling unwell then what else can you do?
>>But here is Amazon, with its history of endangering its workforce, that once again will do nothing.
Well, we'll see what happens in this case. Polish prosecutors can be very zealous(for better or worse) so I don't think "nothing" is on the table.
(Note that the latter is a problem in lots more places; see "Bradford factor")
In other words, we can punish the local manager, but that won't fix the fact that the corporate leadership of Amazon seems to foster an environment where this kind of management is accepted and perhaps even encouraged.
I have never worked at Amazon (and by the sounds of things, I never want to either), but it sounds like a dystopian nightmare. And we should not be surprised when people optimize their behavior to the dystopian nightmare if that's the environment that they have to succeed in.
You can make sure that the incentives in the organisation aligns with preventing deaths like these.
You can educate your workforce.
You can hire more people.
And so on.
> BERLIN — The workers came from across Europe to pack boxes for the online retailer Amazon at distribution centers in Germany during the Christmas rush. They did not expect to be watched over — some say intimidated — by thugs in neo-Nazi-style clothing and jackboots.
> On Friday, Amazon said it was investigating claims made in a documentary that a subcontractor employed security guards with neo-Nazi ties to oversee the immigrant workers. > The documentary, broadcast Wednesday on the ARD public television network, showed guards in black uniforms with H.E.S.S., after Hensel European Security Services, but also the last name of Hitler’s deputy, Rudolf Hess, emblazoned on their chests.
> According to the film, security guards employed by the subcontractor scared and intimidated hundreds of temporary workers from Hungary, Poland, Spain and other European countries.
https://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/16/world/europe/amazon-to-in...
It sounds like they needed security guards, and the firm they hired turned out to be one that liked to play fascist dress-up.
Did they benefit more than if they had hired normal security?
A similar case from Amazon, where the worker was lying unconscious for 20 minutes before receiving help (he died): https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2019/oct/17/amazon-wa...
In normal companies, an accident like this leads to an overhaul of the working systems, internal audits, conversations with employees, and so on. So many IT companies have post-mortems for what can objectively be called the silliest stuff (compared to an actual death of an actual person). But here is Amazon, with its history of endangering its workforce, that once again will do nothing.