Amazon exec gets ripped to shreds by Labour MPs over working conditions in select committee hearing

Amazon's Head of Public Policy in Europe, Brian Palmer was in front of the BEIS Select Committee, where Labour MPs challenged him again and again on the companies draconian approach to workers' rights.

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[MattBeardless]

Ex Amazon staff here - this makes me deeply fucking happy to see them being bollocked for being shit employers.

[smindigo]

"I'm not an expert in UK enployment law" then WTF are you doing talking to a select comittee about UK law and employment rights?

[Alex-cwrz]

Just think of the tens of thousands of workers who have had a lot of money skimmed off their wages so this guy can pretend he treats employees well.

[TheRepublicOfYhonai]

Labour MP's carrying out the work we pay them for, unlike the tories.

[russellnewton]

Bezo says, he will give most of his wealth away, great, now start with the people who are helping you to create your wealth, your employees.

[michaelcoward]

By Amazon's own standards Mr Palmer just got himself three productivity strikes in a single meeting.

[Alex-cwrz]

Shows how much Tory MP's compared to Labour MP's care about workers.

[wally_]

These tech executives are used to being the main guys in the room who always have the answers. To see this guy squirm and try to wriggle out of answering difficult questions was satisfying.

[oshay]

I worked at Amazon for just under a month while I was in between jobs, it was a disgrace. People were nice enough, but the monotony, bitterness & passive aggressive guise where they pretend to be a modern company is such bullshit.

The example they used of the chap who was being threatened with the sack also happened to me, as a sufferer with ADHD I'll not be as fast as others & takes time for my brain to adapt to an environment. They just took this as 'I was a bit thick' but all under this fake niceness, which I found very passive aggressive. They give you no help or tips on how to improve, so I felt like crap for not being good enough, but at the time had to work there...

I now have my own thriving business & work when I want, so not quite as thick as they assumed

[jamesowen]

he would fit in with the tory lying front bench perfectly

[johncarroll]

Oh dear, oh dear - Amazon Man got caught out badly there on the discussion around the "two strikes" issue. His team's agitation at that point looked like they'd just been hit by a very smelly whiff of bullshit.

[Anthony-owmh]

Love how he says they can speak to a "human" if they have problems.. His language tells you everything on how his mind works.. And how amazon works

[gomezthechimp]

I haven't worked for Amazon, but I was a manager at a Tesco warehouse. Every employee was tracked, so we knew exactly where they were and what they were doing. If they stopped for more than a couple of minutes, someone had to go to their location to find out why. Also, the way temps were treated was appalling: summary dismissals for no reason, not knowing whether they would be working 90 hours this week or none etc. When I first started there, Tesco was an excellent employer: with good pay, conditions and benefits. That all changed.
I imagine Amazon is similar.

[dissol]

I wish that MP’s could similarly require the Prime Minister to actually answer the questions posed and not to give answers to different questions as they do here. This is how Prime Minister’s Questions should run. The person being questioned has to truthfully answer the actual question, and is not released until they do so.

[Alex-cwrz]

Well that guy is definitely getting fired, he finally admitted the truth although with a lot of obfuscation, after being caught out lying.

[Alex-cwrz]

When a company has over 100% worker turnover in a year, that is a company not fit for purpose and should either reform itself or be taken on by the state. A market but online is not an intelligent idea, it is not something that should make you the wealthiest man on earth, while the workforce has to pe e in bottles as they aren't allowed enough time for bathroom breaks.

[rjmurphy]

How the hell it has taken so long to hold an Amazon representative to account …. is mind boggling. About bloody time.

[moore_news]

Large companies have too much power. There needs to be more unions and more power to balance it out.

[ianholt]

This Bezo boss is reportedly donating his billions to charities eg Dolly Parton: corporate philanthropy, but what about paying Amazon workers a decent living wage/accepting Unions that are not corporate/ humanising productivity re health and safety / breaks / speeds etc etc etc or better still put his fulfilment centres under workers control, that would be really charitable and fulfilling for him surely?

[Paul-ebjp]

Good to see him being challenged but the UK will soon have no employment rights, that's what brexit was all about.