Abercrombie and Fitch have provoked outrage once again due to claims shop employees have had to undertake a fitness regime every time they do something wrong. This form of punishment may be common for army cadets when carrying out army training but for shop assistants in Milan, the rule has come as a complete shock.
Male Abercrombie and Fitch staff were forced to get down on the hands and knees in order to complete a series of 10 push ups. Female staff were required to do 10 squat thrusts according to Italian union CGIL who have been complaining about the punishment.Managers at the store however see this as a way for employees to learn more from their mistakes and it isn't bad in maintaining the rock solid, sculpted body shape required to work in the store.
It is not the first time Abercrombie and Fitch have caused outrage with their policies. In 2004, they were hit with a lawsuit due to racial discrimination of the staff, claiming that black, Hispanic and Asian were kept out of sight from the shoppers. In 2009, another lawsuit was filed against them, this time by an employee of the London store due to being kept in the back room of the store because she had a prosthetic arm. A recent report has also uncovered that workers in an Italian factory were required to stand up in front of their colleagues and say "I'm Sh*t" as a punishment for their mistakes.
What is your view on their policy? Do you think it is fair or unjust? Has anyone worked at the store and experienced anything like this?
That's shocking! It's ridiculous how, in a society that should be more open minded than ever with it's forever growing liberality, we seem to be doing a U-turn towards discrimination and aestheticism. Chances of getting a job shouldn't be affected by what race you are or how fit you are. This is just crazy in my view.
ReplyDeleteGreat post, very nicely written! X
It's hard to believe some of those stories are true but as for the black employees I can say I have seen a lot of them at their flag stores. I visited their shop in Madrid (here's my blogpost about that http://iisforisabel.blogspot.com/2011/12/abercrombie-fitch-madrid.html) and they all looked very happy with the job, it's hard to believe they were forced to do something they didn't want to. Great post anyway, thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete"I" is for Isabel