Seattle Amazon Workers Plan Walkout Over Return to Office, Climate Concerns

CNN reports:

Some Amazon corporate workers have announced plans to walk off the job next week over frustrations with the company's return-to-work policies, among other issues, in a sign of heightened tensions inside the e-commerce giant after multiple rounds of layoffs.
The work stoppage is being jointly organized by an internal climate justice worker group and a remote work advocacy group, according to an email from organizers and public social media posts. Workers participating have two main demands: asking the e-commerce giant to put climate impact at the forefront of its decision making, and to provide greater flexibility for how and where employees work.

The lunchtime walkout is scheduled for May 31, beginning at noon. Organizers have said in an internal pledge that they are only going to go through with the walkout if at least 1,000 workers agree to participate, according to an email from organizers.

The event comes a month after Amazon's return-to-office mandate took effect, reports the Seattle Times — with one software engineer saying they wanted to show Amazon's leadership that 'employees need a say in the decisions that affect our lives.'
In response, an Amazon spokesperson said, 'We respect our employees' rights to express their opinions.' Drew Herdener, senior vice president for communications at Amazon, said there has been a good energy on the company's South Lake Union campus and other urban centers where Amazon has a significant presence. 'We've had a great few weeks with more employees in the office,' he said. 'As it pertains to the specific topics this group of employees is raising, we've explained our thinking in different forums over the past few months and will continue to do so....'

[Since January], Amazon announced another 9,000 job cuts companywide, but has not notified Washington's unemployment office of the local impact. At the same time Amazon was re-evaluating its teams and workforce, the company announced it would require workers to return to the office at least three times a week beginning May 1. That was a change from Amazon's prior policy, put in place in the second half of 2021, that allowed leaders to decide for their teams where they should work. Announcing the mandate in February, CEO Andy Jassy told employees that senior leaders had observed that it's easier to 'learn, model, practice and strengthen our culture when we're in the office together most of the time and surrounded by our colleagues.' Boosters for downtown Seattle, where Amazon's headquarters campus is located, cheered the mandate and hoped that thousands of returning workers would enliven the neighborhood.

In response to the return-to-office mandate, more than 20,000 workers signed a petition urging Amazon to reconsider.

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