Amazon Employees Detail Inhumane Working Conditions On Bezos’ Human Chessboard
MIAMI—In an official filing with the U.S. Department of Labor, Amazon employees alleged Monday that they had been exposed to inhumane working conditions while staffing the human chessboard that executive chairman Jeff Bezos maintains on the grounds of his Florida compound. “We’re not allowed to take breaks of any kind,” one Amazon worker said on the condition of anonymity, claiming that human chess pieces are expected to stand motionless for more than eight hours at a time on the board’s three-by-three-foot squares and cannot move until Bezos or his opponent orders them to. “Many times, we’ve had to resort to urinating in plastic bottles inside our giant pawn costumes. Sometimes we’re out there for days because he’s away at one of his other properties, but there are cameras everywhere and he’ll dock our pay if we so much as flinch. The only time you’re allowed to be off your feet is when another piece knocks you over.” Reached for comment, an Amazon spokesperson denied the allegations, noting that employees are free to move one or two squares forward during their shift and receive plenty of exercise on occasions when one piece takes another and Bezos forces them to participate in choreographed battles to the death.
