Amazon Employees Stage Walk Out to Fight Back-to-Work Directive and Climate Change

The Amazon Employees for Climate Justice and Amazon’s Remote Advocacy groups walked out of their job stations on Wednesday as they protested the e-commerce and cloud computing giant’s inadequate return to office (RTO) policies as well as the lack of progress in addressing its carbon footprint.

Stop Greenwashing – Amazon Corporate Employees

The lunchtime protests took place at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters, with 870 employees participating.

However, according to a Bloomberg report, around 2,000 of its global workforce had signed up for the demonstrations – a figure that fades in comparison to Amazon’s over 300,000 corporate staff.

A video posted on YouTube showed protesters gathered near the Spheres, the iconic glass domes filled with plants at the center of the company’s headquarters, holding signs that read, “Hell no, RTO!” and “Listen to your employees. Stop greenwashing.”

These protests came barely a week after the company’s yearly shareholders’ meeting and a month after a new rule required corporate workers to come to the office for a minimum of three days a week. Before that, team leaders had the mandate to decide how their employees worked.

I stand with Amazon and their strict policies they have in place. He was fired because he violated those policies multiple times and he left his paid quarantine leave to stage this walk out and expose his fellow employees to the virus. He needs to be arrested for blatant exposure

— Sandra Marshall (@SandraM81392023) March 31, 2020

One of the employees who was protesting, Church Hindley said that work-from-home arrangements allowed him to live a fulfilling life – and not sit in the office all day long.

“I’m out here because I refuse to just sit idly by while mandates are dictated from above down that don’t make sense and hurt the planet, hurt families and individual lives,” Hindley said. “And just to get us into a seat at the office for their tax incentives.”

According to the organizers of the demonstrations, Amazon needs to give employees a say in the decisions that impact their lives. Morale at the e-commerce and cloud computing behemoth has gone down drastically amid layoffs that affected 27,000 workers.

“Our goal is to change Amazon’s cost/benefit analysis on making harmful, unilateral decisions that are having an outsized impact on people of color, women, LGBTQ people, people with disabilities, and other vulnerable people,” the organizers wrote on their website.

Amazon’s Climate Change Pledge – Net Zero Carbon Emissions by 2040

The Amazon Employees for Climate Justice group reckons that the company is doing little to offset its carbon footprint, which has been growing due to the use of fossil fuels. Amazon moves goods with trucks, vans, and planes, which mainly rely on fossil fuels.

Although the e-commerce giant has promised to commission up to 100,000 electric vehicles (EVs) to support delivery services by 2030, employees are accusing the company of “greenwashing.”

According to a report by AP News, Amazon believes it can transform into a net-zero carbon emissions organization by 2040.

Despite the pledges, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice maintain that the company is not doing enough in addition to undercounting its global carbon footprint.

The protests’ organizers claimed that the company was responsible for harming communities of color with its pollution and has raised its carbon footprint by 40% since 2019. They also accused Amazon of failing to back up legislation for renewable energy.

“It’s clear that leadership still sees climate impact as an inconvenience rather than a strategic focus,” organizers wrote.

Amazon on Course to 100% Renewable Energy by 2025

Brad Glasser, an Amazon spokesperson in response to the protests said that the company is committed to achieving “net carbon zero by 2040” in addition to supporting companies under the Climate Pledge program.

In the emailed statement to Gizmodo, Glasser emphasized the Seattle-based company’s commitment to achieving 100% green energy by 2025.

On the other hand, Amazon Employees for Climate Justice want the company to speed up its plans to achieve zero carbon emissions a decade earlier.

“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.”

It is unlikely that the protests on Wednesday, which saw participation from only a fraction of the massive workforce, would amount to any significant change in the decisions the e-commerce and cloud computing giant has already made.

Many companies have been directing their employees to return to office, including Twitter and Tesla. Moreover, Glasser said that the company is seeing a lot of vibrancy surrounding the return-to-office policy and hopes that employees will warm up to the idea.

“There’s more energy, collaboration, and connections happening, and we’ve heard this from lots of employees and the businesses that surround our offices. Glasser said. “We understand that it’s going to take time to adjust back to being in the office more.”

Related Articles:

• Best VPN Services – Top 17 VPNs for Streaming and Privacy in 2023
• While Nvidia and AMD Soar, Intel is Stagnant and Failing to Cash in On AI Boom
• CrowdStrike Reports 42% Jump in ARR and Unveils AI Assistant Charlotte