It has been revealed that Amazon has a small selection of staff based in America defending the firm’s practices. Around 16 accounts, which contain “FC ambassador” in the bio, have been created by Amazon staff in the last few weeks and jump into action to defend the company when people criticise the company on Twitter over issues such as toilet breaks, the monotony of warehouse work, pay and conditions, and management relations.
The actions could have been taken in response to recent strikes that occurred in Germany, Spain, and Poland in July over their working conditions. In the U.K., several unions have sued the company in order to extract higher wages and rewards for delivery staff. Critics have been vocal about the firm’s actions for at least several years now, with regular coverage on mainstream news.
In response to the revelations, a spokesman for Amazon admitted to the practice but made clear that those tweeting have had first hand experience of the jobs they"re defending:
“The most important thing is that they"ve been here long enough to honestly share the facts based on personal experience. It"s important that we do a good job of educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfilment centres, and the FC ambassador program is a big part of that.”
In exchange for praising the e-retailer, workers who become FC ambassadors trade-in their job picking and packing orders and become tour guides and online advocates; the role also includes some managerial duties. To Amazon"s credit, it"s good to see the firm coming clean about these actions when there are undoubtedly other firms who take similar actions anonymously. As to whether these employees are telling the truth about their previous packing job
Source: BBC News