It’s no secret that Amazon has a bit of an image problem when it comes to working conditions at its fulfillment centers.
One Texas woman reportedly became homeless after a workplace injury. In Spain, workers went on strike last month ahead of Prime Day to protest working conditions.
So it was understandable that Twitter user Flamboyant Shoes Guy thought that a series of Twitter accounts praising Amazon and speaking positively about working conditions in those fulfillment centers were bots—that is, automated accounts.
It turns out that the users—and there are at least 16, according to one count—are actually real employees, known as “FC ambassadors.” (The FC stands for fulfillment center.) They’ve seemingly appeared on Twitter in the last few weeks, springing to the defense of their employer when other Twitter users criticize the working conditions and pay of Amazon’s fulfillment center employees.
Each of the accounts are nearly identical to the other. Each has the Amazon logo as their cover photo, and their names and bios all follow the same structure—Name hyphen Amazon FC Ambassador—followed by: Job title @ warehouse location. Duration Amazonian. 2-3 items they like. All of them appear to follow the same general approach in their tweets about their employer.
https://twitter.com/AmazonFCJeremy/status/1032846618150793217
https://twitter.com/AmazonFCPhil/status/1030933842071363585
In addition to compensation questions, the users defend Amazon’s safety record, benefits packages, and seek to assure other users that they’re able to use the bathroom when they want to.
FC ambassadors are “employees who have experience working in our fulfillment centers. The most important thing is that they’ve been here long enough to honestly share the facts based on personal experience,” a spokesperson for Amazon tells Fortune.
“It’s important that we do a good job of educating people about the actual environment inside our fulfillment centers,” he adds, “and the FC ambassador program is a big part of that along with the fulfillment center tours we provide. Those tours enable thousands of customers every year to come and see for themselves what it’s like to work inside one of our fulfillment centers.”
According to the BBC, FC ambassadors may have once been pickers or packers, but are no longer in the role, swapping it for one that focuses on giving tours of the centers, serving as an online advocate, and taking on some managerial duties. They reportedly choose to become an ambassador on a full time basis, and continue to receive the same compensation and benefits.
