REUTERS/Lucas Jackson/File Photo
The inside of an Amazon fulfillment center in Robbinsville, New Jersey on December 2, 2019.
Amazon has said it may shut all its warehouses in France following a court decision that ordered the company to limit its shipments until it can ensure safer conditions for its workers.
The case against Amazon was brought by a French labor union, and on Tuesday a court in Nanterre (just outside Paris) ruled that the retail giant was not meeting the required standards for protecting its employees.
As such, Amazon cannot ship non-essential items as it has "obviously ignored its obligations to the security and health of its workers."
In a statement to France 24, Amazon said it is planning to appeal the ruling.
"We're puzzled by the court ruling given the hard evidence brought forward regarding security measures put in place to protect our employees," a spokesperson said.
The company told Reuters on Wednesday that the decision may lead to it shutting down all six of its warehouses in France. "Our interpretation suggests that we may be forced to suspend the activity of our distribution centers in France," a spokesperson said.
Until recently Amazon has suspended all shipments of non-essential items into its warehouses while it raced to keep up with the sudden spikes in demand for essential goods, but it announced on Monday it would resume shipping in non-essential items.
According to the union which originally lodged the complaint, Amazon employs over 10,000 workers in France plus an "army" of seasonal workers and contracted delivery people.
Amazon has brought in a clutch of measures inside its warehouses to prevent the spread of coronavirus amongst its employees, including temperature checks, providing a limited supply of masks, distributing antibacterial products, and bringing in a 6-foot distancing rule.
Amazon warehouse workers have told Business Insider they still fear for their safety, saying that many of the new rules are either ineffective or impossible to enforce. Workers in New York and Detroit have walked off the job in protest.
"Across the world, Amazon workers are taking action to demand dignity and respect. But, rather than resolving the problem, the richest man on earth is following a take-no-prisoners approach that won't help workers or his company's bottom line," Christy Hoffman, General Secretary of the international worker's union UNI Global Union, told Business Insider in a statement.
"Amazon is failing to keep its workers safe - not because it can't -but because it is prioritizing sales over safety, period. What we are seeing in France is that when workers are able to join together in unions and have legal protection against retaliation and dismissals, companies have no option other than to confront their problems."
At least 74 US warehouses now have confirmed cases of the disease, and the company reported the first death amongst its warehouse workforce.