Amnesty accused recruitment brokers and two Saudi labour provide corporations of deceiving migrant workers who thought they might be employed instantly by Amazon and took out steep loans to pay recruitment fees. File
| Photo Credit: Reuters
Online retailer Amazon stated on February 23 it had paid $1.9 million to greater than 700 contracted workers in Saudi Arabia as reimbursements for unlawful recruitment fees, amongst different alleged violations.
In October, Amnesty International accused Amazon of a variety of abuses towards workers in the oil-rich Gulf kingdom, prompting the U.S.-based multinational to launch an investigation.
“We found instances where contracted workers were required to pay fees, including recruitment fees and other costs” by Saudi recruitment brokers and labour provide corporations, Amazon stated in a press release posted on its web site.
The investigation revealed different violations of its firm insurance policies together with “substandard living accommodations, contract and wage irregularities, and delays in the resolution of worker complaints,” it stated.
As a end result, “Amazon paid $1.9 million in reimbursements to over 700 contracted workers”, the assertion added.
The Amnesty report drew on the accounts of twenty-two males from Nepal who labored in warehouses in Riyadh or the Saudi coastal metropolis of Jeddah going again to 2021, in accordance to the London-based human rights organisation.
It discovered that migrant workers employed in Amazon warehouses in Saudi Arabia suffered “appalling” residing circumstances, on-the-job security dangers and wage theft.
Amnesty accused recruitment brokers and two Saudi labour provide corporations of deceiving migrant workers who thought they might be employed instantly by Amazon and took out steep loans to pay recruitment fees.
Labour provide corporations have additionally threatened to impose steep fines for workers who need to reduce quick their contracts, successfully stranding them in the Gulf kingdom, the human rights group stated.
Responding to the Amazon reimbursements, Steve Cockburn, Amnesty’s head of financial and social justice, known as the transfer a “vital step” however stated extra wanted to be executed.
“Remedy should also be extended to hundreds of other workers contracted by Amazon who have already left the company or country,” he stated in a press release.
They “are likely to have faced similar abuses including deception, wage theft, and hefty recruitment fees. They too deserve justice and compensation”.
