0:01

I want to thank every

0:03

Amazon employee and every Amazon

0:05

customer because you guys paid

0:07

progress. You guys paid

0:10

probs. This

0:12

is megaco an investigative podcast

0:15

exposing some of the world's most unethical

0:17

corporations. This series

0:20

is about Amazon. I'm

0:22

Jake Hanrahan, journalists and

0:25

documentary filmmaker. Megacorp

0:29

is produced by H eleven for

0:31

Cool Zone Media.

0:38

So this is the final installment

0:41

of Megacorp. For this series,

0:43

at least over the past twelve

0:45

episodes, we've dug into almost

0:48

every Amazon scandal. There

0:50

is dangerous working conditions,

0:53

union busting, spin on customers,

0:56

and much much more. This

0:58

series has been very information

1:01

dents. So for the final episode

1:03

here, I'm going to recap everything we've

1:05

learned and take a look at what people

1:08

might want to do now they have all

1:10

this information. You can maybe

1:12

use this last episode as

1:14

a primer to get people interested

1:17

in listening to the whole of megacorps. Or

1:20

you could use it as a too long,

1:22

didn't read version. It's up to you anyway.

1:25

Let's go back to episode

1:27

one. We heard about the mistreatment

1:30

of warehouse workers at Amazon,

1:33

where they're worked off their feet.

1:36

As we mentioned then, Amazon warehouse

1:38

workers are paid around seventeen

1:40

dollars an hour in the US

1:42

and around fourteen pounds an hour

1:44

in the UK. For these wages,

1:47

employees will often work ten to twelve

1:49

hour shifts, constantly on their

1:51

feet, where they're expected to hit never

1:54

ending targets. A package

1:56

must be dealt with every thirty seconds.

1:58

If you're working as a pick you're expected

2:01

to process three hundred items

2:03

per hour. You've given nine seconds

2:05

to take each item from a robot that

2:08

delivers shelf upon shelf of

2:10

Amazon packages. Staff

2:12

are constantly filmed in the warehouse as they

2:14

work, and their toilet breaks are even

2:16

time. Workers get two

2:19

fifteen minute breaks, much of

2:21

which can be taken up by just walking

2:23

to the toilet through the vast expanse

2:26

of the warehouse. People often

2:28

fall asleep standing up will

2:30

become injured at work. Leak

2:33

documents revealed in

2:35

the New York Staten Island Amazon

2:38

Warehouse reported injuries over three

2:40

times the industry average. To

2:42

put that into context, the injury

2:45

percentages at the Amazon warehouse

2:47

will worse than its steel refineries

2:50

and sawmills all

2:52

over the world. Workers have voiced anger

2:54

at these horrific working conditions,

2:59

so as any of this changed in a

3:01

few months we've been doing this series. The

3:04

short answer is no. There

3:06

have been some victories for unions

3:08

here and there, but Amazon continues

3:11

in its mission to crush them. Workers

3:13

are exhausted, overworked, and

3:15

in my opinion, are often treated

3:17

like flesh robots on a

3:20

warehouse floor. For that, Amazon

3:22

managers now remember Bezos

3:24

is worth an estimated one and seventy

3:26

seven billion dollars, and

3:28

on working conditions at Amazon, he

3:31

has said quote, I'm very proud

3:33

of our working conditions end

3:35

quote. After twelve episodes

3:38

of research for this that

3:40

quote rings even more tone death

3:42

for me than it did at episode

3:45

one, especially when you consider how

3:47

sinister some of Amazon's

3:49

union busting techniques have been, which

3:52

we covered in episode two.

3:55

If you remember, we covered how in and

3:59

internal and union Amazon video

4:01

was leaked onto the internet. The

4:03

video is essentially a training guide

4:06

on how to stop workers unionizing.

4:09

This video was sent to managers at the company

4:11

Whole Foods amidst the initial

4:13

stages of worker organization

4:16

around June. Whole

4:19

food was brought out by Amazon

4:21

in seventeen for thirteen

4:24

point seven billion dollars.

4:28

The anti union video is forty

4:30

five minutes long, and it's split up into

4:32

six different parts. The whole

4:34

thing is animated. It takes

4:36

place in a two D Amazon warehouse,

4:39

where the narrator says, the purpose of the

4:41

video is quote specifically

4:44

designed to give you the tools that you need

4:46

for success when it comes to labor

4:48

organizing end quote.

4:51

Now there's something quite all well and in the way this video

4:53

portrays itself. As we said before, it's

4:55

essentially a guide that Amazon is

4:58

created to help recognize

5:00

when workers unions are beginning to form,

5:02

but not so they can help them. It's so

5:04

they can stop them. Yet the language

5:07

used in the video acts as if it's somehow

5:09

an ally of the workers. When

5:11

they say they're helping give companies the tools

5:14

they need for success when it comes to

5:16

labor organizing, what they

5:18

mean by success is basically crushing

5:20

the unions. Amazon

5:23

is training and encouraging workers

5:25

to literally spy on each other.

5:28

They suggest monitor in their behavior,

5:30

their clothes, and even what words

5:32

they use to try and work out if

5:34

they're involved in union organizing

5:37

or not. The video

5:39

goes as farmers to suggest that managers

5:41

second guess the motivations of the

5:43

workers by watching to see

5:45

if anything changes in their behavior,

5:48

even if they have not said anything regarding

5:51

unionizing. So I think

5:53

it's safe to say that the Amazon warehouse

5:55

and anyone unionize in there

5:58

is not in the healthiest place to be working if

6:00

you want some level of autonomy

6:03

in the workplace. So

6:09

what about the health and safety.

6:12

Well in episode three we covered

6:14

that too now. As we noted back

6:16

then, in twenty the UK's

6:19

GMB trade union obtained

6:21

figures that showed injury rates

6:23

weren't improving and we're perhaps

6:25

getting worse. More than fifty

6:28

of the country's Amazon warehouses.

6:31

GMB used the Freedom of Information

6:33

Act to get hold of the figures that showed

6:35

the dire situation of warehouse

6:37

safety. In fact, as cited

6:40

in a Guardian article, in three

6:42

years leading up to twenty, more

6:44

than six hundred Amazon workers have

6:47

been seriously injured at UK warehouses.

6:50

That's an average of two hundred plus

6:52

Amazon workers a year sustaining

6:55

what's classed as quote serious

6:57

injury in the workplace. In the

6:59

UK, the annual total

7:01

of Amazon warehouse injuries was

7:04

one hundred and fifty two. In the years

7:06

twenty sixteen to twenty seventeen,

7:09

it went up to two hundred and thirty in twenty

7:12

eighteen, and then up again to two

7:14

hundred and forty in twenty

7:16

nineteen. One

7:19

study by the Strategic Organizing

7:21

Center the s o C shows

7:24

that workers more likely to be injured

7:26

at Amazon warehouses than in

7:28

any other warehouse in that industry.

7:31

They're also more likely to be injured

7:33

more frequently at Amazon warehouses,

7:37

even more severely. So

7:39

basically, if you work in warehouses

7:41

for a living, you are way more likely

7:43

to catch a severe injury working for

7:45

Amazon than any other of

7:48

their competitors. So

7:50

Amazon's warehouse work is borderline

7:53

oppressive and even dangerous.

7:55

When workers want to unionize to try and

7:57

change some of this, Amazon truly

8:00

encourages other employees to spy

8:03

on them in a bid to crush the union.

8:05

So why is Amazon so

8:08

underhanded? Honestly, at

8:10

this stage, my best guess

8:12

is quite simply because

8:14

profit over everything. As

8:17

we already know, Bezos is the

8:19

richest man on earth. It's

8:21

not like his business is struggling either.

8:24

As we mentioned in episode four, in

8:26

twenty twenty, Amazon made

8:28

forty four billion euros in

8:31

sales income in Europe. That's

8:33

thirty eight billion pounds and fifty

8:36

billion dollars they didn't

8:38

pay any corporation tax on

8:41

this. Corporation

8:43

tax is paid by businesses in the UK,

8:45

and it's calculated on their annual profits

8:48

in a similar way to income tax for

8:50

individuals. The corporation

8:52

tax rate has been for

8:55

all limited companies since April.

8:58

Prior to this, the rate very dependent on the

9:01

company's profits. Unlike

9:03

individuals, companies don't receive

9:05

any kind of tax free allowance and

9:07

therefore all profits are taxable.

9:10

However, there are a number of expenses

9:12

and deductions that can be claimed

9:14

to reduce your bill. Either

9:17

way, Amazon should pay their way

9:19

like everyone else has to. Now,

9:22

as I stated before, I am not a big fan

9:24

of any state, and I'm certainly not a fan

9:26

of my government here in the UK.

9:29

But this is just the way things are. If you're

9:31

a mega rich company making money under

9:33

these conditions, you should have to pay

9:35

the proper tax under these conditions. Why

9:38

well, because if you, or me, or

9:41

your average man and woman earning normal

9:43

money on the street don't pay their taxes,

9:46

we get sent to prison. Now,

9:48

your average man or woman is not rich enough

9:50

to hire top of the range accountants firms

9:52

that help you dodge at tax Amazon

9:55

is. I say this because

9:58

what they're doing is actually perfectly

10:00

legal. Now. I don't know about you, but for

10:02

me, that makes it all the more frustrating.

10:05

Europe has become a playground for

10:07

mega corporations. They're able

10:10

to do acrobatics with their tax payments

10:12

because they can afford to make it work for

10:14

them. Meanwhile, companies

10:17

like Amazon willingly abused their

10:19

most important workers, whilst

10:21

paying as little as possible back into

10:23

the countries they make money off

10:25

of. If all this wasn't bad enough,

10:28

we went on to discover in episode five

10:30

and six that Amazon is also

10:33

spying on everybody too. So

10:35

we asked the question, is Amazon spying

10:38

on you? We took a look at several of their

10:40

products and the answer was a resounding

10:43

yes they are. First,

10:46

we looked at their smart speakers.

10:49

In nineteen, it emerged that Amazon

10:51

employees have been listening to voice recordings

10:54

captured via Amazon's Echo smart

10:56

speaker in consumers homes and

10:59

offices. This wasn't a couple

11:01

of rogue employees either. Amazon

11:03

literally hired thousands of people

11:05

to do this. Their job was

11:07

to not only listen to what you're saying,

11:10

but to also transcribe and

11:12

annotate it. They then feed

11:14

it back into the software with the aim

11:16

of apparently helping Alexa

11:18

understand voice commands more effectively.

11:22

Either way, they're listening to your conversations

11:24

and they're writing them down. This

11:26

raises extremely serious questions

11:29

about a citizens personal privacy,

11:31

and trust me, it gets a lot worse. Reported

11:34

by Forbes, the people tasked with listening

11:37

to your conversations quote

11:40

required to record the data, whether

11:42

the device has been activated on

11:45

purpose or not. End

11:47

quote. So by buying an Amazon

11:49

Echo, you've essentially invited

11:52

an employee of Amazon

11:54

to listen into your private conversations,

11:57

whether you've given Alexa a command or

11:59

not. If Big Brother is always

12:01

watching, it's clear now that

12:03

Amazon is always listening.

12:06

If the people hired to listen, in record,

12:09

and annotate conversations in your

12:11

home via the Amazon Echo here

12:13

private data such as your

12:15

bank details, they're told

12:17

to just market down as quote

12:19

critical data and move

12:22

on. Let's just hope every

12:24

single one of the thousands of people

12:26

Amazon employed to do this honest

12:29

and didn't steal anyone's details.

12:32

Next, we looked at Amazon's

12:34

home security devices. Specifically,

12:37

Ring Ring is a home security

12:40

company owned by Amazon. They

12:43

bought it in eighteen for one billion

12:45

dollars, and millions of people across

12:47

the world used the technology. Ring

12:50

provides a line of WiFi connected

12:52

security cameras for your home. You've

12:54

likely seen footage of Ring doorbell

12:57

security systems online. Is basically

12:59

you usually a little camera in the doorbell or

13:02

wherever they put it in their house, and

13:04

it allows the home owner to see what's going

13:06

on outside before they open the door

13:08

or inside. For example, if you want to keep

13:11

an eye on your kids as they're playing through

13:13

the WiFi, you can pull Ring up on your

13:15

phone or your tablet, or your laptop or

13:18

whatever. In

13:20

nineteen it was reported that hackers

13:23

had built themselves dedicated

13:25

software for hacking into Amazon's

13:28

Ring security cameras. It

13:30

becomes clear how funked up this is when

13:32

looking at a story from Mississippi

13:35

in the US, where it was discovered

13:37

that hackers had managed to get into a Ring

13:39

security camera placed

13:41

in the bedroom of three young girls,

13:44

one of them was just eight years old.

13:48

The hacker managed to take control of the Ring

13:50

security camera, playing music

13:52

through its speaker as the young girl has played

13:55

in their room. The hacker played

13:57

the song Tiptoe through the tulips, and

13:59

when one of the young girls asked who was there,

14:02

the hacker replied, quote, it's

14:04

Santa, It's your best friend.

14:07

End quote. If

14:10

that wasn't bad enough, it was later discovered

14:12

that rings own employees have been improperly

14:15

accessing rings user video

14:17

data. It doesn't stop with

14:19

the home security systems either. We

14:22

learned that Amazon had been allowing law

14:24

enforcement to use customers home security

14:27

systems, specifically the ring doorbells

14:30

to access video footage in the

14:32

wake of the George Floyd riots across

14:34

the US. They've also been

14:36

building huge systems for America's

14:38

CIA of Britain's g C

14:41

h Q After

14:50

that. This brings us to episode

14:53

seven, where we looked into Jeff

14:55

bezos trips to near space aboard

14:57

his Blue Origin projects. Blue

15:00

Origin, the Bazos commercial space

15:02

company, stresses that to keep costs

15:05

down, their rockets are all about

15:07

reusability. Well, actually,

15:09

when we looked into it, according to the two

15:12

World Inequality Report, one

15:14

space flight amidst more carbon dioxide

15:17

than most of the world's population creates

15:20

in their entire lifetime. To me, knowing

15:22

that, it seems a bit ironic for Blue

15:24

Origin to be talking about paving

15:26

the way to a brighter future for our kids, as

15:29

they do when their very own m

15:31

oh of regular commercial space

15:33

flights will possibly destroy the

15:35

Earth's environment quicker. Now,

15:37

whilst Blue Origin says it wants to make

15:39

commercial space travel cheap, they

15:42

don't mean the same kind of cheap as the

15:44

way most people understand it cheap

15:46

to me, for example, is say thirty

15:48

pence for a point of milk. My

15:50

point is the people who will be taking

15:53

these space flights will almost

15:55

definitely already be very

15:57

very rich. For their michere might

16:00

be cheap, but for your average man and

16:02

woman on the street, Blue Origins

16:04

space trips will be completely and

16:07

utterly unobtainable. So

16:09

in theory, whilst these rich people are

16:12

flying around like the Jetsons claiming

16:14

to be advancing society, for us,

16:16

your everyday man and woman are getting

16:18

blasted in the long run with

16:21

unprecedented levels of carbon

16:23

dioxide build up in the atmosphere.

16:26

Now why does that matter, Well, if there's

16:28

too much carbon dioxide, the Earth gets

16:30

too hot. If the Earth gets too hot,

16:33

we are all completely fucked. The oceans

16:35

will go toxic, food will become

16:37

scarce, crops won't grow, and

16:39

brutal climate wars will undoubtedly

16:42

erupt. Carbon dioxide

16:44

levels have been steadily rising on Earth

16:47

for the past one hundred years now,

16:49

hitting levels that scientists say have been

16:52

unprecedented for hundreds of

16:54

thousands over years. So we

16:56

already reckoned the shop due to excessive pollution,

16:59

and now the rich commercial space

17:01

people want to save us by dumping

17:03

out a load more carbon dioxide via

17:06

space shuttles will never

17:08

be able to afford a ride on. After

17:11

taking a look at Blue Origin and

17:14

Bezos is Early Life, we came

17:16

back to Earth and the present day to

17:18

learn about the Amazon Flex

17:20

driver pyramid scheme, a scandal

17:23

in which Amazon drivers had had

17:25

their tips stolen from them by Amazon

17:27

as a means to pay their daily rate. For

17:30

this, Amazon got fined sixty

17:33

one point seven billion

17:35

dollars, and believe it or not, almost

17:38

immediately they became even

17:41

richer. Listen to episode

17:43

eleven to find out how. Now,

17:45

that was all a very long way of summing

17:48

up the key points of what we've already

17:50

gone into in this series. But as

17:53

I said, you can use this as a means to

17:55

draw people into learning more about

17:57

the mistreatment, corruption, and

18:00

on stop scandal inside

18:02

Amazon. Now, if you've got to the end

18:04

of this series, you've listened to every episode,

18:07

you might be thinking, should I boycott

18:09

Amazon or not? Well, maybe you shouldn't,

18:11

Maybe you shouldn't. I don't know that. It's entirely up

18:14

to you. I didn't make this series to preach

18:16

or tell anybody what they have to do. Let's

18:18

be honest, Amazon has become so

18:20

intrinsic in our lives and so useful

18:23

that it's hard to totally detach from it. Spending

18:26

money with Amazon obviously doesn't make

18:28

you a bad person, and it doesn't

18:30

mean you have no ethics, And if anyone

18:32

tells you that, honestly, just tell them to mind

18:34

their own fucking business. Saying

18:37

that, at the very least, I do think if

18:39

you're purchasing from a company

18:41

as soulless and as ruthless

18:43

as Amazon often is, the

18:46

very least you should be aware of what

18:48

they're really up to. With this series,

18:50

I've tried my best to cover all of that

18:53

with as much detail as possible.

18:56

Outside of being aware of Amazon's

18:58

theft, spying, worker mistreatment,

19:01

and tax dodging, I'd

19:03

suggest supporting any Amazon

19:05

workers union you can. Don't

19:07

worry too much about are you represented

19:10

politically within it. These are workers that

19:12

are coming together and they want a better future

19:14

and a better working environment. That is

19:16

definitely worth supporting in

19:18

my opinion. Also, I

19:20

would say this, but also spread

19:23

this series far and wide. I didn't make

19:25

this for other reporters. I didn't

19:27

make this specifically for people that want to

19:29

be outraged. I made this for everybody.

19:32

If you are shopping at Amazon As, millions

19:34

and millions and millions of people do, I

19:36

think again, the very least you should do

19:38

is be aware of their bad practices.

19:41

Also, I would suggest checking out the

19:43

works of the many reporters I've

19:46

cited by name throughout this

19:48

series. If you ever happened

19:50

to be in contact with Jeff Bezos

19:53

for any reason, tell him to look after

19:55

his workers. They're the most important

19:58

facet of his empire. Without

20:00

them, he is fucked. This

20:04

has been mega core with me. Jake Hanrahan,

20:07

thank you for listening. Mega

20:14

Corp Is made by my production

20:16

company H eleven for

20:18

Cool Zone Media. It's written,

20:21

researched, and produced by myself,

20:23

Jake Hanrahan. It was

20:25

also produced by Sophie Lichtmant.

20:29

Music is by some Black Graphics

20:32

by Adam Doyle and sound engineering

20:34

by splicing block. If

20:37

you want to get in touch, follow me on

20:39

social media at Jake

20:41

Underscool, Hanrahan. That's

20:43

h a n a A h

20:46

a n The

21:01

Break