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Amazon Employees plan to quit their jobs on Wednesday in protest at the company’s recent back-to-office mandates, layoffs and environmental concerns.
About 1,900 employees around the world are scheduled to leave at 3 p.m. ET, with about 900 of them gathering outside the Sphere, the giant glass dome that anchors Amazon’s Seattle headquarters. By employee group behind the effort. The strike is organized in partnership with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice. Amazon Employees for Climate Justice is an influential workers’ organization that has repeatedly pressured e-retailers about their stance on climate change.
The group said employees were coming to highlight a “lack of trust in company management’s decision-making.” Amazon recently embarked on the largest job cuts in its 29-year history, cutting 27,000 jobs across multiple divisions since last fall, including cloud computing, advertising and retail. On May 1, the company ordered its employees to work in the office at least three days a week, all but ending the remote work arrangements some employees had taken hold of during the coronavirus pandemic. rice field.
Amazon employees are leaving the company at a time of instability. Amazon has just finished layoffs, but as it continues to consider the economic downturn and weak retail sales, workers fear more layoffs are still possible.
The workers called on Amazon management to lift the mandate to return to the office, with CEO Andy Jassy and a close-knit group of senior executives from nearly every area of Amazon’s business. I created a petition addressed to the S team. The staff said the policy “would run counter to” Amazon’s focus on diversity and inclusion, affordable housing, sustainability and being “the best employer on earth.”
Backlash over the mandate to return to the office spread across internal Slack channels, with employees forming a group called Remote Advocacy to voice their concerns.
CNBC previously reported that Amazon employees who were transferred or hired to work remotely during the pandemic expressed concern about how the return-to-office policy would affect them. are doing. Amazon’s workforce has skyrocketed over the past three years, hiring more employees outside of its major technology hubs such as Seattle, New York, and Northern California as it diversifies its workforce.
The company has previously said it will leave it up to individual managers to decide what works best for their teams.
In a statement, Amazon spokesman Brad Glasser said the company has been pleased with the results of its return-to-office push so far.
“There’s more energy, collaboration and connection happening, and we’re hearing that from many of our employees and businesses around the office,” Glasser added. “We understand that returning to office life will take time, and many teams within the company are working hard to make this transition as smooth as possible for our employees. .”
Amazon says it has 65,000 corporate and technical employees in the Puget Sound area and about 350,000 corporate and technical employees worldwide.
Employees are also using the strike to draw attention to concerns that Amazon is failing to address climate change. They pointed to Amazon’s latest sustainability report, which showed that the company’s carbon footprint increased by 40% in 2021 compared to 2019, when it announced its “climate change pledge” plan.Staff also pay attention last year’s report According to the Center for Investigative Reporting revelation, the company does not buy from manufacturers and sell directly to consumers, but only counts the carbon footprint of its products through the use of Amazon branded products, underestimating its carbon footprint. It turned out that
Glasser said Amazon is following government guidance. Greenhouse Gas Protocol Corporate Accounting and Reporting Standards Used in determining Scope 3 emissions, i.e. emissions generated from a company’s supply chain.
Furthermore, Amazon recently removed One of the company’s climate goals is called “zero shipments,” and the company has pledged to make half of all shipments carbon neutral by 2030. Said The company will focus on broader climate change pledges, including provisions to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040, a decade behind its initial “zero shipments” pledge.
“Our goal is to ensure Amazon’s cost effectiveness in making harmful and unilateral decisions that have a significant impact on people of color, women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable populations. It’s about changing the analysis of people,” the group said.
Glasser said Amazon continues to “work hard” to achieve net zero carbon across its operations by 2040, and the company plans to reach 100 percent renewable energy by 2025. added.
“We all want to get there tomorrow, but for a company like ours that consumes a lot of electricity and has so many transportation, packaging and physical building assets, it’s not possible. It will take time to get there,” Glasser said.
clock: Amazon employees protest against sudden return to office policy