The papers are dominated by the fallout from a report published by the New York Times over the weekend into Amazon’s working conditions and practices. It featured interviews with hundreds of former Amazon employees and described the e-commerce group as a place where staff regularly weep, colleagues compete to criticise each other to management and serious health and family issues are ignored.
Founder and CEO Jeff Bezos defended his company over the allegations of employee cruelty (The Guardian). Bezos hit back at the stinging report by arguing he would leave the company if it was the “soulless, dystopian workplace” which had been depicted (The Times). In an email sent to all “Amazonians” Bezos encouraged employees to read the article but said: “It doesn’t describe the Amazon I know or the caring Amazonians I work with every day”. He added employees should tell HR — or email him personally — if they had experienced anything like the examples in the article (The Financial Times).
The Times follows up with a story about similar experiences for staff in the UK. Employees in Amazon’s UK distribution centres have developed “physical and mental illnesses” because of their punishing work arrangements, the GMB trade union claimed yesterday. Amazon had a “chew them up and spit them out” attitude to its distribution centre staff in the UK, the union told The Times.
The Telegraph runs a piece from former Arla Foods CEO Neil Davidson, which argues supermarkets aren’t the villains in Britain’s milk crisis. Instead, it says over-production has exposed dairy farmers to volatile international commodity markets.
Following an emergency meeting between ministers and farming leaders yesterday, the government may force supermarkets to print on labels whether their fresh food is from Britain (The Guardian). Grocery retailer could also have to agree to long-term contracts with farmers as part of plans to address the crisis in the dairy industry, environment secretary Elizabeth Truss said.
Cargill has acquired Norwegian salmon-feed supplier Ewos as it seeks to expand its exposure to the fast-growing market for farmed fish and shrimp (The Telegraph). The FT said it was the second-largest acquisition in the US multinational’s 150-year history. The paper called the deal a €1.35bn wager on strengthening global appetite for farmed salmon.
No comments yet