Amazon workers in Seattle are planning to stage a walk-off on May 31 in an act of retaliation over layoffs and return-to-office mandates. At least 1,000 employees will participate in the walkoff, according to a Washington Post report. The walk-off was announced over emails and Slack.
“We’re really walking out to show leadership is taking us in the wrong direction and employees need a say in the decisions that affect our lives,” one of Amazon’s Seattle-based software engineers told the Seattle Times.
The one-day walk-off is to show power and to get the company to address the back-to-work directive and the company's impact on climate change. The walk-off will take place during lunch.
"We respect our employees' rights to express their opinions," Amazon spokesperson Rob Munoz told Business Insider. Amazon, in January, cut 18,000 roles and in March it announced that it is cutting 9,000 jobs. Amazon, in April, faced backlash after it passed a mandate stating employees must be back in the office for at least three days a week starting in May.
Amazon Employees for Climate Justice said “failures on the carbon front” and “greenwashing” are the reasons its members are participating in the walkout. “Amazon must keep pace with a changing world,” Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) wrote in a Twitter thread Tuesday calling for the walkout next week. “To cultivate a diverse, world-class workplace, we need real plans to tackle our climate impact and flexible work options.”
