Amazon Sick-Out Unites Tech and Warehouse Workers in Protest

Amazon Sick-Out Unites Tech and Warehouse Workers in Protest

4 years ago
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https://www.wired.com/story/amazon-sick-out-tech-warehouse-workers-protest/

Hundreds of Amazon employees are calling out sick today over the company’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, as well as accusations it retaliated against workers who have spoken out. The protests are being organized by United For Respect, a nonprofit advocating for retail workers, and Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a corporate worker group, among other organizations. Warehouse workers have demonstrated against conditions at Amazon facilities before, but Friday’s sick-out represents one of the first instances where logistics employees and those from Amazon’s corporate offices are joining together in solidarity with coordinated actions.

Amazon’s Seattle headquarters was not historically known for worker activism—thousands participated in a walkout organized by AECJ last fall that marked the first corporate strike in the company’s 25-year history. “We see the connections between what’s happening with Covid-19 with our coworkers in warehouses and the climate crisis,” said Emily Cunningham, an activist with Amazon Employees for Climate Justice who was fired from the company earlier this month. “How Amazon and the world reacts to Covid-19 will be a model and a reference point for how Amazon and the world responds to the climate crisis as it continues to escalate.”