Amazon workers' protests set to take on drastic setting Amazon employees plan to take to the streets to condemn the e-commerce giant. More than 1,700 Amazon employees have promised that they would leave their job pending when Amazon adds more flexibility with remote work and improve their promises regarding their climate change impact.
Approximately 1,726 employees have promised to participate in the walkout. About half of these workers say that they plan to physically walk out of offices in Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to show their disdain for the management of Amazon. Eight hundred ninety of these workers say they will join from Amazon offices and branches worldwide.
The Amazon employee strike has been planned since last week, just after the company’s annual shareholder meeting. The strike by Amazon workers is also significant as the company recently mandated a large number of their workers to come to the office at least three times a week.
It is obvious that many of these employees are uncomfortable with these policies and will be protesting against them with their strikes. Other workers around Amazon headquarters also support the action being taken by Amazon employees. According to one Seattle-based worker who requested to stay anonymous, they are "united by a frustration with the direction that leadership’s decisions have been going."
Why are Amazon Employees Protesting?
The major issue Amazon employees have with the company is the recent layoffs. Within 2023, thousands of workers have already been relieved of their duty, and the remaining ones have been mandated to come to the office thrice a week. Also, Amazon's stand on its climate change footprint has been raising problems between the company and the workers.
This is not the first time Amazon workers will be protesting about climate change policies from the company. In 2019, Amazon workers who were members of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice demanded that the company take a definite stand regarding the issue of climate change.
Currently, one of the issues regarding the Amazon employee strike is that the company should put climate change at the forefront whenever they make decisions and policies.
"It’s clear that leadership still sees climate impact as an inconvenience rather than a strategic focus," one of the organizers said while speaking to the Seattle Times.
Amazon Makes a Statement
Amazon has issued direct and indirect statements regarding their employees' current climate change issues. During its annual proxy statement, the e-commerce giant said they are still committed to its objectives regarding climate change.
The company said one of its plans is to integrate electric vehicles into their delivery logistics. Amazon says one of their plans is to put 100,000 electric delivery vans on the road by 2030, and also they aim to use 100% renewable energy in their operations by 2050.
Amazon spokesperson Brad Glasser said the company is backing down from its promises. Amazon still intends to reach some of the milestones it has set for itself.
"While we all would like to get there tomorrow, for companies like ours who consume a lot of power and have very substantial transportation, packaging, and physical building assets, it’ll take time to accomplish," Glasser said.