Mixed views as Bezos steps down as Amazon CEO – National & International News – TUE 6Jul2021

Amazon’s Bezos heads for space; 150,000 sign petition to leave him there. Why a win for democracy is a defeat for Israel’s government.

NATIONAL NEWS

Mixed views as Bezos steps down Amazon CEO

After 27 years, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has stepped down from his post as CEO. Views of Bezos’ tenure at the head of the world’s most profitable company are mixed to say the least. His close colleagues credit Bezos’ unorthodox management style with his success in creating an online commercial juggernaut. At the boardroom level, Bezos gives his executives a huge amount of autonomy. This has contributed hugely to the company’s success in expanding to various non-retail ventures.

However, Bezos laissez-faire attitude does not extend to the workers who keep his company ticking over day-to-day. Former VP David Niekerk helped design Amazon’s warehouse-management system. Niekerk says that grueling quotas, stringent employee monitoring and the constant threat of seemingly arbitrary dismissals in the warehouses are rooted in Bezos’ belief that workers are inherently lazy.

Experts have long noted the high turnover rates among Amazon’s warehouse and delivery staff. According to Niekirk, this is part of Bezos’ policy of denying any opportunity for pay raises or advancement to low-level staff. Most managers embrace the view that opportunities and humane working conditions serve to motivate staff. But Bezos takes the opposite approach. Bezos apparently takes the attitude that workers’ motivation decreases over time. Therefore, contented long-term staff creates a “march to mediocrity”.

What’s next for Bezos?

Whether one reviles or admires Bezos, there’s no question that his methods have helped him become the world’s richest man- even though he apparently paid no income tax in 2007 and 2011.

His departure as CEO appears not to be connected with Amazon’s current image issues. Rather, it seems Bezos just wants to use his world-beating fortune to focus on other things. One of those things is his space exploration company, Blue Origin. Bezos will be aboard Blue Origin’s upcoming inaugural spaceflight. To date, a petition to prevent Bezos from returning to Earth has garnered 150,000 signatures.

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INTERNATIONAL NEWS

Why a win for democracy is a defeat for Israel’s government

The failure to extend a controversial citizenship law is a humiliating defeat for Israel’s right-wing PM Naftali Bennett, who had framed it as a confidence vote. The Citizenship and Entry Law prevents Arab Israelis from extending citizenship rights to their Palestinian spouses. While supporters say the prohibition is a necessary security measure, critics say the true logic of the law is to maintain a Jewish majority in Israel.

The law has been in place since 2003, and successive governments have renewed it every year since. But it failed to win a majority this time in the 120-seat Knesset. After abstentions from some Arab parliamentarians and one member of Bennett’s own Yamina party, the final vote was 59-59. Former PM Benjamin Netanyahu’s right-wing Likud party also decided vote against the extension in order to embarrass Bennett.

With the law having expired as of today, some 15,000 Palestinians are now eligible to apply for Israeli citizenship.

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