Amazon SVP Defends Company’s Response to COVID-19

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR: You have four U.S. senators who have written to the boss, Jeff Bezos, about their concern. Let me just read it, we are concerned by reports that managers at Amazon’s warehouses continue to hold standup staff meetings before every shirt. Meetings that result I dozens of staff crowded together in rooms. We are also concerned by reports that hand sanitizer, disinfectant wipes are in short supply at Amazon warehouses. And that some Amazon warehouses are not receiving additional cleaning. Perhaps most concerned with Amazon’s stringent use of rate-based write-ups, which are currently preventing warehouse employees from practicing good sanitary habits. Answer that, obviously, because these are on the front lines, these employees.

JAY CARNEY, SENIOR VICE PRESIDENT OF GLOBAL CORPORATE AFFAIRS, AMAZON: Sure. Well, they are and I just have to say, the letter is disappointing because there’s almost no truth to some of the accusations they made. We have gone to extreme measures to ensure that our facilities, where our fulfillment center employees are working are cleaned regularly, deep cleaned regularly. We’ve instituted practices to prevent congregation. We’re supplying everyone with wipes and hand sanitizer. We have the challenge that I mentioned earlier of acquiring masks, but we are working diligently to get as many masks as we can while, of course, prioritizing delivery to health care workers. So, we — you know, I think we are doing extraordinary things. Amazon workers the country and the world are doing extraordinary things to ensure the safety of our employees while delivering essential goods to millions and millions of people around the world, including household staples, including medical supplies, toiletries and the like that are otherwise are very hard to come by because, you know, some people are ordered by governments to shelter in place, to stay at home and they rely very heavily on a delivery service like Amazon to get what they need.

AMANPOUR: And what about — you know, we just said that you — you’re employing 100,000 new employees. I mean, clearly, there’s a massive demand as the rest of the retail sector, you know, grinds to a halt. What about price gouging? We’ve heard all sorts of, you know, stories of unscrupulous people gauging prices. I think you’ve taken steps to counter that.

CARNEY: We have. We’re absolutely concerned about this and any price gouging is intolerable. As you know, Christiane, our Amazon stores are not just our own inventory, but represent goods sold by third-party sellers. In most cases, well about 55 percent of what you see if from third-party sellers. And when we catch a third-party seller price gouging, we suspend that seller’s account. We’ve suspended over or nearly 3,900 accounts in the United States alone, when we’ve caught price gouging. And we’re working with law enforcement officials, the state attorneys general as well as with the United States Justice Department to refer cases of price gouging, the most egregious cases for prosecution.