- According to a Spanish media report, a private spy, subcontracted by the Pinkerton agency, pays Amazon to infiltrate a warehouse on Black Friday in Amazon 2019, photographing.
- The spies produced a 1-page document that included photos of trade unions, workers and journalists who took part in the strike, Al Diario reported.
- Amazon has in the past used Pinkerton spies to monitor warehouse workers and labor movements at the company, according to a November report.
- The Spanish Labor Union CCOO has asked a judge to seize documents related to the report and said it is considering taking legal action against Amazon. An Amazon spokesman told El Diario that the e-commerce company had not instructed Pinkerton or any other agency to spy on the strike.
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Amazon may face a court battle with a Spanish workers’ union in a report in which private investigators were hired to infiltrate and secretly survey one of its warehouses.
According to a 51-page document obtained by Spanish news site El Diario, private investigators spied on Amazon workers’ strike at a warehouse near Barcelona, Spain.
Black friday
In 2019. The strike was part of a wider freight movement in the province of Catalonia.
El Diario reported that the private investigators who prepared the document were hired by a Spanish company called Castor & Pollux, which was subcontracted by the Pinkerton agency. A November motherboard report said Amazon hired the Pinkerton agency to monitor the union’s activity in Europe.
El Diario’s report said the document contained photographs of trade union members, workers and journalists present at the strike.
The excerpt from the document reads: “We saw a group of people meeting, who can be seen wearing CCOO and UGT union bibs / vests. Subsequent events are reported for possible identification.” This was accompanied by a photograph.
Castor and Pollux declined to comment when contacted, citing client confidentiality. An Amazon spokesman told El Diario that the e-commerce company had not instructed Pinkerton or any other agency to spy on the strike.
Amazon and the Pinkerton agency did not respond to a request for comment. Castor and Pollux did not immediately respond to a business insider’s request for comment.
The Spanish Labor Union CCOO announced on Tuesday that it plans to take legal action against Amazon. Ricard Bellera, secretary of the CPO for Work and Economy in Catalonia, said the Business Insider Union had asked a judge to seize a 51-page report covered by El Diario and documents showing any agreement between Castor and Pollux and Amazon.
“The CCO wants to know that Amazon, through the contracted company, will conduct a thorough inspection of the people, photographs and reports prepared by the workers of the CCO and the trade union. The union will assess to file a criminal case against Amazon with its legal services. , ”The union said in a press release.
It added that if the report proves to be true, it could mean that Amazon has violated the space constitution’s laws and the right to privacy of data.
This is not the first report of secret operators infiltrating the Amazon warehouse.
The motherboard report states that Pankerton agents were deployed inside a warehouse in Poland in the year 2019 as management is coaching candidates on how to complete job interviews. At the time of the report, Amazon spokeswoman Lisa Lewandowski told Business Insider that the company had partnered with Pinkerton not to collect information on partnership workers, to “secure high-value shipments in transportation” and that all activities were “fully compliant with local law.” . “
Amazon is “using its immense power and resources to scatter on workers looking to improve their jobs,” Christie Hahnemann, general secretary of the international UNI Global Union, told Business Insider in a statement.
“Spying on workers is as bad as it gets, it doesn’t come in a vacuum. Here’s a pattern – Amazon’s huge appetite for growth is bad for our societies. That’s why more and more people on Black Friday believe in pride.” The politics of work and the common good went on strike to demand change, “he added.
On Black Friday this year, Amazon workers and activism groups from 15 countries protested against the company, demanding higher wages and benefits, an end to labor and union surveillance, and a commitment to stability under the slogan “Make Amazon Pay.”
