“I cannot believe that a company in this day and age, a company that claims to be an innovative leader in its space, would do that to one of its most precious resources - its employees,” Hayter said during the protest in Seattle, drawing applause from the crowd. Its 33,000 members share stories about how the return-to-office policy impacted their lives. Pamela Hayter, a project manager at Amazon, started an internal Slack channel called “Remote Advocacy” after the company announced its return-to-office policy. In a note asking Amazon employees to pledge their participation in the walkout, organizers said the company “must return autonomy to its teams, who know their employees and customers best, to make the best decision on remote, in-person, or hybrid work, and to its employees to choose a team which enables them to work the way they work best.” He said they concluded employees tended to be more engaged in person and collaborate more easily. Among other things, he said senior leadership watched how staff performed and talked to leaders at other companies. In a February memo, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said the company made its decision to return corporate employees to the office at least three days a week after observing what worked during the pandemic. “Today looks like it might be the start of a new chapter in Amazon’s history, when tech workers coming out of the pandemic stood up and said, ‘We still want a say in this company and the direction of this company,’” said Eliza Pan, a former Amazon corporate employee and a co-founder of Amazon Employees for Climate Justice, a climate change advocacy group founded by Amazon workers. Many participated remotely, but hundreds gathered at the Amazon Spheres - a four-story structure in downtown Seattle that from the outside looks like three connected glass orbs.
In a statement, Amazon said it supported workers expressing opinions.Īs of Wednesday morning, organizers estimated more than 1,900 employees pledged to walk out around the world, with about 900 in Seattle. “And just to get us into a seat at the office for their tax incentives.”
“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. Wearing a black pirate hat and red coat, Church Hindley, a quality assurance engineer, said working from home allowed him to live a better, healthier life. The employees chanted their disappointment with the pace of the company’s efforts to reduce its carbon footprint - “Emissions climbing, time to act” - and urged Amazon to return authority to team leaders when it comes to work location.
Previously, team leaders were allowed to determine how their charges worked.
The protest came a week after Amazon’s annual shareholder meeting and a month after a policy took effect returning workers to the office three days per week. SEATTLE (AP) - Telling executives to “strive harder,” hundreds of corporate Amazon workers protested what they decried as the company’s lack of progress on climate goals and an inequitable return-to-office mandate during a lunchtime demonstration at its Seattle headquarters Wednesday.
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