如果你想在失業(yè)率不斷攀升、經(jīng)濟(jì)深陷低迷之時(shí)與一家萬(wàn)億美元的公司一較高下,那么不妨考慮一下法國(guó),這個(gè)國(guó)家被稱為工人的天堂。
上個(gè)月,亞馬遜在法國(guó)的官司便明確地佐證了這一點(diǎn)。在該案中,兩名法官做出了有利于近1萬(wàn)名亞馬遜員工的裁決,并告訴亞馬遜未能在疫情期間給予其員工適當(dāng)?shù)姆雷o(hù)。美國(guó)亞馬遜員工也提出了類似的控訴,稱新冠疫情危機(jī)讓他們非常容易受到這種致命疾病的侵襲。
法國(guó)的這場(chǎng)斗爭(zhēng)讓亞馬遜在這個(gè)全球第六大經(jīng)濟(jì)體中的在線業(yè)務(wù)癱瘓了四周的時(shí)間,而正是在這個(gè)期間,亞馬遜的銷量在這個(gè)閉關(guān)鎖國(guó)、充斥著新冠疫情的星球如日中天。亞馬遜的股票今年上漲了近30%。
如今,亞馬遜正在嘗試重新開(kāi)啟其法國(guó)的六個(gè)物流中心,順利的話可能這周就會(huì)營(yíng)業(yè),但工會(huì)卻說(shuō):不會(huì)這么快。
團(tuán)結(jié)工會(huì)法國(guó)書(shū)記史蒂芬·恩加爾蘭說(shuō):“我們會(huì)向亞馬遜提供一個(gè)非常詳細(xì)的安全計(jì)劃,如果亞馬遜不同意,那么重新?tīng)I(yíng)業(yè)就會(huì)遇到很大的阻力?!痹摴?huì)上月起訴法國(guó)亞馬遜,由于物流中心內(nèi)部環(huán)境存在風(fēng)險(xiǎn),從而導(dǎo)致工會(huì)會(huì)員存在感染新冠病毒的隱患。
恩加爾蘭說(shuō):“我們可以上法院起訴他們?!?/p>
恩加爾蘭指出,自法國(guó)出現(xiàn)新冠疫情以來(lái),十幾名亞馬遜員工已經(jīng)感染新冠病毒,其中有一名癥狀十分嚴(yán)重,已住進(jìn)位于巴黎南部的一家醫(yī)院。
幾乎就在法國(guó)總統(tǒng)馬克龍于3月17日宣布采取嚴(yán)厲封鎖舉措的同時(shí),亞馬遜員工便抱怨無(wú)法在倉(cāng)庫(kù)進(jìn)行社交隔離,而且缺乏洗手液和口罩。這兩類物品在法國(guó)都處于超級(jí)緊缺狀態(tài),直到最近才有所緩解,而且法國(guó)政府嚴(yán)格限制其銷量。在3月,馬克龍要求線上零售商繼續(xù)營(yíng)業(yè),因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)實(shí)體店面在上周一法國(guó)取消封鎖令之前都處于關(guān)閉狀態(tài)。
亞馬遜堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為,公司從一開(kāi)始便實(shí)施了新冠病毒安全防范措施,而且遠(yuǎn)超政府的指導(dǎo)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。這些舉措包括保持6英尺的社交隔離距離,將法國(guó)官方規(guī)定的一米排隊(duì)間隔變成了兩米,先于大多數(shù)其他公司為員工發(fā)放口罩。公司還在倉(cāng)庫(kù)檢查員工的體溫,并加強(qiáng)了倉(cāng)庫(kù)的清掃流程。
亞馬遜在巴黎的發(fā)言人朱莉·瓦雷特說(shuō):“我們采取了異常嚴(yán)格的舉措來(lái)保障員工的安全?!彼赋?,與其他所有公司一樣,當(dāng)疫情來(lái)臨時(shí),“我們沒(méi)有任何指導(dǎo)手冊(cè)可供參考?!?/p>
恩加爾蘭說(shuō),法國(guó)有6700萬(wàn)人口,很多人都在網(wǎng)上購(gòu)買(mǎi)各種物品,從電話充電器、書(shū)籍一直到洗發(fā)水,因此亞馬遜也是忙得團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn),也導(dǎo)致倉(cāng)庫(kù)的工作節(jié)奏變得異常緊張。他說(shuō),即便亞馬遜提升了安全舉措,但員工們依然面臨著很大的新冠病毒感染風(fēng)險(xiǎn)?!懊恳惶於加袀}(cāng)庫(kù)稱又有一名員工因?yàn)楦腥静《径 !?/p>
由于可能感覺(jué)到自身在這個(gè)歷史性時(shí)刻所扮演的重要角色,亞馬遜員工起訴亞馬遜,要求公司提供更加安全的工作環(huán)境。4月14日,一名法國(guó)法官做出了有利于員工的裁決,下令公司僅能夠配送必需品,否則將面臨每天100萬(wàn)歐元(約合187萬(wàn)美元)的罰款。
不過(guò)亞馬遜并沒(méi)有想方設(shè)法去弄清楚客戶所購(gòu)物品是否屬于必需品,而是暫停了配送服務(wù),所以到如今依然處于停滯狀態(tài)。瓦雷特說(shuō):“這完全沒(méi)有可操作性。什么才算是必需品?梳子算嗎?避孕套呢?”
亞馬遜在4月底對(duì)上述裁決進(jìn)行了上訴,但再次以敗訴告終,然而這一次,法官將罰金削減為每違反一次罰款10萬(wàn)歐元(約合10.87萬(wàn)美元),并列出了允許亞馬遜配送的物品清單。即便如此,公司估計(jì),哪怕是一個(gè)小小的錯(cuò)誤每周也會(huì)給公司帶來(lái)約10億歐元的成本。亞馬遜在去年成為了法國(guó)最大的線上零售商。
恩加爾蘭承認(rèn),在某些方面,亞馬遜還是不錯(cuò)的雇主。即便員工在家休息,公司也會(huì)支付100%的薪資。
然而,令他感到震驚的是,他在上周發(fā)現(xiàn),亞馬遜已向法國(guó)政府申請(qǐng)員工薪資成本補(bǔ)貼,相當(dāng)于在法國(guó)執(zhí)行美國(guó)的工資保護(hù)計(jì)劃。
由于今年面臨6%的GDP下跌,法國(guó)政府官員拒絕了這一申請(qǐng),稱這些條款并不適用亞馬遜困難員工的情形。政府還預(yù)測(cè),給亞馬遜貸款可能會(huì)激起法國(guó)民眾的公憤,而恩加爾蘭曾簡(jiǎn)明扼要地描述過(guò)這種憤怒。他在談?wù)搧嗰R遜尋求政府幫助時(shí)說(shuō):“真不敢相信亞馬遜會(huì)這樣做。就像我一直說(shuō)的那樣,亞馬遜真不知道何為羞恥?!?/p>
在看似無(wú)路可選的情況下,亞馬遜于上周上訴至法國(guó)最高院,要求取消不利于公司的上述裁決,并認(rèn)為自己已經(jīng)實(shí)施了影響深遠(yuǎn)的安全舉措。
我們尚不清楚亞馬遜最終是否能勝訴,而且最高院要到數(shù)周后才可以給出答案。
然而恩加爾蘭稱,該公司員工在其中一個(gè)方面已經(jīng)勝訴,即工會(huì)代表參與決定制定亞馬遜新冠疫情防范策略的要求。亞馬遜稱,這一訴求目前已經(jīng)得到滿足。瓦雷特說(shuō):“我們已經(jīng)開(kāi)始與[工會(huì)]工作理事會(huì)協(xié)商,并希望在這一流程中得到其持續(xù)、積極的反饋?!?/p>
對(duì)于西雅圖亞馬遜總部來(lái)說(shuō),與法國(guó)工人交鋒的最終影響要遠(yuǎn)比在法國(guó)重開(kāi)其六個(gè)物流中心深遠(yuǎn)。這一結(jié)果可能會(huì)引發(fā)數(shù)以萬(wàn)計(jì)的員工在包括美國(guó)本土在內(nèi)的其他地區(qū)采取類似舉措。亞馬遜在疫情期間開(kāi)除美國(guó)工會(huì)積極分子的舉措已成為法國(guó)家喻戶曉的事件,而法國(guó)員工也據(jù)此提出了相應(yīng)的要求,只不過(guò)法國(guó)的勞工保護(hù)力度要大得多。亞馬遜副總裁蒂姆·布雷在本月早些時(shí)候遞交了辭呈,稱公司在開(kāi)除積極分子方面“畏首畏尾”。
恩加爾蘭稱,他和其他工會(huì)積極分子曾密切關(guān)注過(guò)布雷的行動(dòng)。
他解釋說(shuō):“我們所做的一切并不僅僅是為了亞馬遜和法國(guó)員工,我們與美國(guó)員工進(jìn)行了溝通,而且也為意大利、德國(guó)和英國(guó)的亞馬遜員工提供了建議。”
這也讓亞馬遜更有理由去努力解決法國(guó)的這場(chǎng)斗爭(zhēng)。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:Feb
如果你想在失業(yè)率不斷攀升、經(jīng)濟(jì)深陷低迷之時(shí)與一家萬(wàn)億美元的公司一較高下,那么不妨考慮一下法國(guó),這個(gè)國(guó)家被稱為工人的天堂。
上個(gè)月,亞馬遜在法國(guó)的官司便明確地佐證了這一點(diǎn)。在該案中,兩名法官做出了有利于近1萬(wàn)名亞馬遜員工的裁決,并告訴亞馬遜未能在疫情期間給予其員工適當(dāng)?shù)姆雷o(hù)。美國(guó)亞馬遜員工也提出了類似的控訴,稱新冠疫情危機(jī)讓他們非常容易受到這種致命疾病的侵襲。
法國(guó)的這場(chǎng)斗爭(zhēng)讓亞馬遜在這個(gè)全球第六大經(jīng)濟(jì)體中的在線業(yè)務(wù)癱瘓了四周的時(shí)間,而正是在這個(gè)期間,亞馬遜的銷量在這個(gè)閉關(guān)鎖國(guó)、充斥著新冠疫情的星球如日中天。亞馬遜的股票今年上漲了近30%。
如今,亞馬遜正在嘗試重新開(kāi)啟其法國(guó)的六個(gè)物流中心,順利的話可能這周就會(huì)營(yíng)業(yè),但工會(huì)卻說(shuō):不會(huì)這么快。
團(tuán)結(jié)工會(huì)法國(guó)書(shū)記史蒂芬·恩加爾蘭說(shuō):“我們會(huì)向亞馬遜提供一個(gè)非常詳細(xì)的安全計(jì)劃,如果亞馬遜不同意,那么重新?tīng)I(yíng)業(yè)就會(huì)遇到很大的阻力?!痹摴?huì)上月起訴法國(guó)亞馬遜,由于物流中心內(nèi)部環(huán)境存在風(fēng)險(xiǎn),從而導(dǎo)致工會(huì)會(huì)員存在感染新冠病毒的隱患。
恩加爾蘭說(shuō):“我們可以上法院起訴他們?!?/p>
恩加爾蘭指出,自法國(guó)出現(xiàn)新冠疫情以來(lái),十幾名亞馬遜員工已經(jīng)感染新冠病毒,其中有一名癥狀十分嚴(yán)重,已住進(jìn)位于巴黎南部的一家醫(yī)院。
幾乎就在法國(guó)總統(tǒng)馬克龍于3月17日宣布采取嚴(yán)厲封鎖舉措的同時(shí),亞馬遜員工便抱怨無(wú)法在倉(cāng)庫(kù)進(jìn)行社交隔離,而且缺乏洗手液和口罩。這兩類物品在法國(guó)都處于超級(jí)緊缺狀態(tài),直到最近才有所緩解,而且法國(guó)政府嚴(yán)格限制其銷量。在3月,馬克龍要求線上零售商繼續(xù)營(yíng)業(yè),因?yàn)榇蠖鄶?shù)實(shí)體店面在上周一法國(guó)取消封鎖令之前都處于關(guān)閉狀態(tài)。
亞馬遜堅(jiān)持認(rèn)為,公司從一開(kāi)始便實(shí)施了新冠病毒安全防范措施,而且遠(yuǎn)超政府的指導(dǎo)標(biāo)準(zhǔn)。這些舉措包括保持6英尺的社交隔離距離,將法國(guó)官方規(guī)定的一米排隊(duì)間隔變成了兩米,先于大多數(shù)其他公司為員工發(fā)放口罩。公司還在倉(cāng)庫(kù)檢查員工的體溫,并加強(qiáng)了倉(cāng)庫(kù)的清掃流程。
亞馬遜在巴黎的發(fā)言人朱莉·瓦雷特說(shuō):“我們采取了異常嚴(yán)格的舉措來(lái)保障員工的安全?!彼赋?,與其他所有公司一樣,當(dāng)疫情來(lái)臨時(shí),“我們沒(méi)有任何指導(dǎo)手冊(cè)可供參考?!?/p>
恩加爾蘭說(shuō),法國(guó)有6700萬(wàn)人口,很多人都在網(wǎng)上購(gòu)買(mǎi)各種物品,從電話充電器、書(shū)籍一直到洗發(fā)水,因此亞馬遜也是忙得團(tuán)團(tuán)轉(zhuǎn),也導(dǎo)致倉(cāng)庫(kù)的工作節(jié)奏變得異常緊張。他說(shuō),即便亞馬遜提升了安全舉措,但員工們依然面臨著很大的新冠病毒感染風(fēng)險(xiǎn)。“每一天都有倉(cāng)庫(kù)稱又有一名員工因?yàn)楦腥静《径?。?/p>
由于可能感覺(jué)到自身在這個(gè)歷史性時(shí)刻所扮演的重要角色,亞馬遜員工起訴亞馬遜,要求公司提供更加安全的工作環(huán)境。4月14日,一名法國(guó)法官做出了有利于員工的裁決,下令公司僅能夠配送必需品,否則將面臨每天100萬(wàn)歐元(約合187萬(wàn)美元)的罰款。
不過(guò)亞馬遜并沒(méi)有想方設(shè)法去弄清楚客戶所購(gòu)物品是否屬于必需品,而是暫停了配送服務(wù),所以到如今依然處于停滯狀態(tài)。瓦雷特說(shuō):“這完全沒(méi)有可操作性。什么才算是必需品?梳子算嗎?避孕套呢?”
亞馬遜在4月底對(duì)上述裁決進(jìn)行了上訴,但再次以敗訴告終,然而這一次,法官將罰金削減為每違反一次罰款10萬(wàn)歐元(約合10.87萬(wàn)美元),并列出了允許亞馬遜配送的物品清單。即便如此,公司估計(jì),哪怕是一個(gè)小小的錯(cuò)誤每周也會(huì)給公司帶來(lái)約10億歐元的成本。亞馬遜在去年成為了法國(guó)最大的線上零售商。
恩加爾蘭承認(rèn),在某些方面,亞馬遜還是不錯(cuò)的雇主。即便員工在家休息,公司也會(huì)支付100%的薪資。
然而,令他感到震驚的是,他在上周發(fā)現(xiàn),亞馬遜已向法國(guó)政府申請(qǐng)員工薪資成本補(bǔ)貼,相當(dāng)于在法國(guó)執(zhí)行美國(guó)的工資保護(hù)計(jì)劃。
由于今年面臨6%的GDP下跌,法國(guó)政府官員拒絕了這一申請(qǐng),稱這些條款并不適用亞馬遜困難員工的情形。政府還預(yù)測(cè),給亞馬遜貸款可能會(huì)激起法國(guó)民眾的公憤,而恩加爾蘭曾簡(jiǎn)明扼要地描述過(guò)這種憤怒。他在談?wù)搧嗰R遜尋求政府幫助時(shí)說(shuō):“真不敢相信亞馬遜會(huì)這樣做。就像我一直說(shuō)的那樣,亞馬遜真不知道何為羞恥。”
在看似無(wú)路可選的情況下,亞馬遜于上周上訴至法國(guó)最高院,要求取消不利于公司的上述裁決,并認(rèn)為自己已經(jīng)實(shí)施了影響深遠(yuǎn)的安全舉措。
我們尚不清楚亞馬遜最終是否能勝訴,而且最高院要到數(shù)周后才可以給出答案。
然而恩加爾蘭稱,該公司員工在其中一個(gè)方面已經(jīng)勝訴,即工會(huì)代表參與決定制定亞馬遜新冠疫情防范策略的要求。亞馬遜稱,這一訴求目前已經(jīng)得到滿足。瓦雷特說(shuō):“我們已經(jīng)開(kāi)始與[工會(huì)]工作理事會(huì)協(xié)商,并希望在這一流程中得到其持續(xù)、積極的反饋?!?/p>
對(duì)于西雅圖亞馬遜總部來(lái)說(shuō),與法國(guó)工人交鋒的最終影響要遠(yuǎn)比在法國(guó)重開(kāi)其六個(gè)物流中心深遠(yuǎn)。這一結(jié)果可能會(huì)引發(fā)數(shù)以萬(wàn)計(jì)的員工在包括美國(guó)本土在內(nèi)的其他地區(qū)采取類似舉措。亞馬遜在疫情期間開(kāi)除美國(guó)工會(huì)積極分子的舉措已成為法國(guó)家喻戶曉的事件,而法國(guó)員工也據(jù)此提出了相應(yīng)的要求,只不過(guò)法國(guó)的勞工保護(hù)力度要大得多。亞馬遜副總裁蒂姆·布雷在本月早些時(shí)候遞交了辭呈,稱公司在開(kāi)除積極分子方面“畏首畏尾”。
恩加爾蘭稱,他和其他工會(huì)積極分子曾密切關(guān)注過(guò)布雷的行動(dòng)。
他解釋說(shuō):“我們所做的一切并不僅僅是為了亞馬遜和法國(guó)員工,我們與美國(guó)員工進(jìn)行了溝通,而且也為意大利、德國(guó)和英國(guó)的亞馬遜員工提供了建議。”
這也讓亞馬遜更有理由去努力解決法國(guó)的這場(chǎng)斗爭(zhēng)。(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:Feb
If you want to take on a trillion-dollar company in the midst of rising unemployment and a deep economic slump, it helps to live in worker-friendly France.
That’s clear from Amazon’s French troubles this past month as two judges have ruled in favor of nearly 10,000 workers, telling the company that it failed to properly protect them from the coronavirus—echoing accusations from Amazon workers in the U.S. that the COVID-19 crisis has left them vulnerable to a deadly disease.
The battle in France has ground Amazon’s online ordering business in the world’s sixth biggest economy to a halt for four weeks—at the very time when its sales have rocketed across the locked-down, COVID-19 planet. Amazon stock is up nearly 30% this year.
Now, as Amazon tries to reopen its six fulfillment centers in France, perhaps as soon as this week, the labor unions are saying: not so fast.
“We have a really precise security plan to propose to Amazon, and if Amazon does not agree it could be very uneasy for them to open,” says Stéphane Enjalran, national secretary for the Solidaire Union, which sued Amazon France last month claiming that its members were at risk of being infected with COVID-19 because of risky conditions inside its fulfillment centers.
“We can go to court and denounce them,” Enjalran says.
Enjalran says “dozens” of Amazon workers have fallen ill with COVID-19 since the virus hit France, with one still in serious condition in a hospital south of Paris.
Almost as soon as President Emmanuel Macron declared a severe nationwide lockdown on March 17, Amazon workers complained of being unable to social distance in warehouses and about the lack of hand sanitizer and facial masks. Both items were in dire short supply across France until recently, and the government strictly restricted their sale. Back in March, Macron had instructed online retailers to remain open since almost all stores were shut until France’s lockdown ended on last Monday.
Amazon insists that from the start it implemented COVID-19 safety measures that went far beyond the government’s guidelines. Those included social distancing of six feet, double the official one-meter rule, and issuing workers masks before most other companies. They also checked workers’ temperatures in warehouses and intensified cleaning procedures in the warehouses.
“We have put extreme measures in place to keep our people safe,” Julie Valette, Amazon spokesperson in Paris, says. Like all companies everywhere, she says, when COVID-19 hit, “there was no playbook.”
With many in the country of 67 million ordering everything from phone chargers to books to shampoo online, the company was going gangbusters, and the pace inside the warehouses hugely increased, according to Enjalran. Even Amazon’s stepped-up safety measures left workers facing big risks of infection, he says. “Each warehouse day after day was saying there was another colleague sick with COVID.”
Perhaps sensing their crucial role at a historic moment, Amazon workers sued for safer working conditions, and on April 14, a French judge ruled in their favor, ordering the company to deliver only essential items or risk being fined €1 million (about $1.87 million) a day.
Rather than having to figure out the necessity of each item ordered, Amazon instead halted its deliveries, and they remain at a standstill today. “It was absolutely not operational,” says Valette. “What was an essential product? Is a hairbrush essential? Is a condom essential?”
Amazon appealed the judge’s decision in late April and lost again, although this time, the judge cut the penalties to €100,000 (about $108,700) per violation and listed the items Amazon was permitted to ship. Even so, the company estimated that even tiny errors could cost it about €1 billion a week. Amazon last year became France’s biggest online retailer.
Enjalran concedes that in some ways, Amazon is a good employer. It is paying its French workers 100% of their salaries, despite the fact that they are idling at home.
Yet he was shocked to discover last week that Amazon had applied to the French government to cover its payroll costs, the country’s equivalent of the U.S.'s Payroll Protection Program.
Facing a 6% drop in GDP this year, French officials declined, saying that the provisions did not cover a situation like Amazon’s labor woes. The government also predicted the likely outrage that a loan to Amazon could ignite among the French—anger that Enjalran neatly summed up. “It was unbelievable,” he says of Amazon’s request for government help. “As I always say, Amazon does not know the meaning of the word shame.”
Seemingly out of options, the company appealed to the French Supreme Court last week to annul the ruling against it, arguing that it has instituted far-reaching safety measures.
It is unclear whether Amazon might finally prevail, and it could take weeks before the Supreme Court rules.
But Enjalran says workers have already won their case in one respect: their demand that union reps participate in determining Amazon’s COVID-19 strategy. That is now happening, according to Amazon. “We have started to consult with [labor] works councils and are calling for their progressive and positive input through this process,” Valette says.
For Amazon HQ, back in Seattle, its tussle with French workers has far wider consequences than reopening its six warehouses in the country. The outcome could inspire similar actions elsewhere among hundreds of thousands of workers—including in the U.S. The firing of American union activists during the pandemic has been widely publicized in France, as a mirror of what French workers have demanded—albeit in a country with far stronger labor protections. Amazon Vice President Tim Bray quit earlier this month, saying that the company had been “chickenshit” for firing the activists.
Enjalran says he and other union activists had closely followed Bray’s action.
“What we are doing was not only for Amazon and not only for French workers,” he explains. “We are connected to workers in the U.S. We are giving advice to Italian, German, British workers at Amazon.”
All the more reason for Amazon to fight to resolve its battle in France.