Poor Treatment of Contract Workers at Amazon in Saudi Arabia Dozens of contract workers at Amazon warehouses say they were tricked into toiling and living in gruelling, squalid conditions. Momtaj Mansur wanted to go home to his mom and his brother and the pastures of Nepal$$s southern plains. He felt like a prisoner, he says, in a roach$-$infested bunkhouse in Saudi Arabia, out of work, hungry and deep in debt. The $23-$year$-$old had come to Riyadh, the Saudi capital, in $2021$ to work for one of the world$$s biggest companies: Amazon. Instead of his dream job, he says, he found low pay and misery. Amazon managers berated him, he says, for being too slow as he hustled across a vast two$-$story warehouse, grabbing iPhones and other items ordered by customers across the Arabian peninsula. Then in May $2022,$ he says, he and many of his Nepali co$-$workers were abruptly let go from their jobs at the Amazon warehouse. They were $2,400$ miles from home with no wages and little food. Mansur says he pleaded with the Saudi labour supply company, Abdullah Fahad Al$-$Mutairi Co$,$ that held their employment contracts and had placed them in what amounted to temporary positions at Amazon: if there was no more work, let them return to Nepal. The Saudi firm, he says, demanded he make a terrible choice. He could stay in a place that, for him, was $$like a hell$.$ Or he could push his family back in Nepal deeper into destitution by paying a $$1,300$ exit fee, a penalty for leaving before his contract was done. $$I told them: either kill us or send us home, but don$$t give us so much pain,$$ he says. Momtaj Mansur is one of dozens of current and former workers who claim they were tricked and exploited by recruiting agencies in Nepal and labour supply firms in Saudi Arabia and then suffered under harsh conditions at Amazon$$s warehouses. Their accounts provide insight into how major American corporations profit, directly or indirectly, from employment practices that may amount to labour trafficking, which is defined as using force, coercion or fraud to induce someone to work or provide service. Forty$-$eight of the $54$ Nepali workers interviewed say recruiters misled them about the terms of their employment, falsely and fraudulently promising they would work directly for Amazon. All $54$ say they were required to pay recruiting fees $$ ranging from roughly $$830$ to $$2,300$ that far exceed what$$s allowed by Nepal$$s government and run afoul of American and United Nations standards. During their time in Saudi Arabia, these workers say, they were paid a fraction of what direct hires for Amazon$$s Saudi warehouses earn, because labour supply firms were taking big cuts of what Amazon was paying for their labour. Nepali labourers generally earned $$350$ per month working the day shift at Amazon warehouses, while their colleagues in similar jobs, who were direct employees of Amazon, earned between $$800$ and $$1,300$ per month. Some workers say that after they$$d been laid off from work at Amazon, their labour supply company sought to squeeze more money out of them, taking advantage of Saudi laws that give employers broad powers to control foreign workers$$ freedom of movement. Mansur is one of $20$ Nepalis who say labour supply firms told workers they couldn$$t go home to Nepal unless they paid exit fees that often equalled several months$$ wages. $$We have already paid money to come here and we have to pay additional money to return?$$ one current worker says. $$We feel trapped.$$ Amazon$$s Response Amazon has acknowledged that some workers at its Saudi facilities had been mistreated. $$Providing safe, healthy and fair working conditions is a requirement of doing business with Amazon in every country where we operate, and we are deeply concerned that some of our contract workers in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia were not treated with the standards we set forth, and the dignity and respect they deserve,$$ the statement said. $$We appreciate their willingness to come forward and report their experience.$$ Amazon said it will make sure that workers who paid recruiting fees get their money back. The company added that it was $$implementing stronger controls$$ to $$ensure similar incidents do not occur and to raise overall standards for workers in the region$.$ This includes $$providing enhanced trainings for our third$-$party vendors on labour rights standards with a specific focus on recruitment, wages, and deception$.$ Nepali Workers$$ Response to Amazon Several Nepali workers say that Amazon managers have been aware of many of the problems they faced in Saudi Arabia. They say workers complained to Amazon warehouse managers or human resources managers about low or missing wages, poor housing conditions and the strains of warehouse work. But these Amazon managers did nothing. Discuss the characteristics of an ethical organisation. To what extent are these characteristics evident in the case study?