At least 1,000 Amazon office workers may stage a walkout next week to take a stand against the company’s divisive return-to-office mandate.
Washington Post reported that some Amazon corporate employees on Monday announced they plan to walk off the job on May 31, a week after the company’s annual shareholder meeting.
They announced their intention to walkout with their colleagues through internal communication channels such as Slack and email.
Employee organizers reportedly used the messages to call on their coworkers to protest Amazon’s return-to-office mandate, as well as recent layoffs and concerns about the tech giant’s climate policies.
The company, like many other tech giants, went through massive layoffs earlier this year, cutting thousands of jobs.
According to Washington PostOrganizers are expecting at least 1,000 workers at Amazon’s Seattle headquarters to participate in the walkout.
weak self confidence
An LA-based employee who plans to attend told Post That morale at the company “looks like it’s at the lowest it’s ever been.”
“In meetings and one-on-one with coworkers, there is a lot of uncertainty and lack of clarity from leadership,” he said. “It’s a troubling time to be working at Amazon.”
An Amazon spokesperson told Luck In an emailed statement Wednesday, it said the company “respects the rights of our employees to express their opinions.”
In February, CEO Andy Jassy announced that from May, the company’s white-collar employees would be expected to work from an office for most of the work week, arguing that people would be “more engaged, attentive and in tune with what’s happening”. was used to” when he personally attended the work.
However, many of the firm’s employees appeared to disagree, as more than 28,000 employees joined a Slack channel called “Remote Advocacy” and a petition was started to oppose the in-office mandate.
A small group of employees supported Jassi’s plans to return to office, however, with a protest pro-office channel also appearing on Amazon’s Slack space shortly after the mandate was announced.
Amazon spokesperson told Luck on Wednesday that the company had “a good few weeks with more employees in the office.”
“There’s good energy on campus and in urban cores like Seattle where we have a large presence,” he said. “We’ve heard this from a lot of employees and businesses around our offices. As regards the specific issues being raised by this group of employees, we have explained our thinking in various forums over the past few months and will continue to do so.
