Amazon workers in Seattle planning PROTEST against layoffs, return to office orders

05/30/2023 / By Ramon Tomey

Employees of e-commerce giant Amazon based in Seattle are planning to protest job cuts and return to office (RTO) orders through a walkout.

ABC News reported that the protest is planned for May 31, two days after Memorial Day and a week after the tech giant’s annual meeting. Plans for the lunchtime walkout were drafted after an RTO mandate requiring employees to show up three days per week. However, the outlet added that the protest is “contingent on at least 1,000 Amazon employees from the company’s Seattle headquarters agreeing to participate.”

According to the report, more than 20,000 workers have signed a petition urging the Jeff Bezos-founded Big Tech firm to reconsider the RTO policy. Moreover, some employees have complained of Amazon’s slowness in addressing its impact on climate change – which the May 31 protest will also tackle.

The company said in a statement that it respects its “employees’ rights to express their opinions.” Amazon Senior Vice President for Communications Drew Herdener, meanwhile, said there has been good energy at the company’s Seattle headquarters and its other urban centers since more employees returned to the office.

ZeroHedge‘s Tyler Durden remarked that the news of the protest has Bezos “very bothered.”

He sarcastically pointed out: “Because that’s a great way to not land yourself on the layoff list – complain about working, and then walk out of your job. We’ll eagerly await to see whether or not enough brain-dead Amazon employees decide to help meet quorum, putting their job on the line for what we’re sure will ultimately turn out to be a meaningless protest.”

Amazon in the midst of layoffs – and the protesters are next

Durden noted that Amazon is in the midst of a string of layoffs just like many other U.S. companies. ABC News backed up his remarks, pointing out that these job cuts “have occurred broadly, in numerous divisions.” The layoffs have encompassed the company’s advertising, human resources, gaming, retail, consumer devices and Amazon Web Services departments.

The Seattle-based tech firm has cut 27,000 jobs since November. Aside from this, it has also ended entire projects – including the healthcare endeavor Amazon Care and the Amazon Smile philanthropic program.

Amazon gave 20,000 employees a nasty Christmas present in the form of layoffs back in December of last year, the Western Journal reported at that time. The outlet cited ComputerWorld, which in turn received the news from an anonymous source with knowledge of the mass layoffs. News of the December 2022 layoffs lined up with a November 2022 report by the New York Times hinting at “massive personnel changes” at Amazon.”

“There is a sense of fear among employees in the company as the news has come out,” said another source directly told about the job cuts – the largest in the company’s history. “There is no specific department or location mentioned for the cuts; [they are] across the business.” (Related: Amazon to fire 20,000 employees – the largest staff reduction in company’s history.)

According to this same source, they were informed that the layoffs were “a result of over-hiring during the pandemic and the need for cost-cutting as the company’s financials have been on a declining trend.”

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy confirmed the job cuts in a statement to employees.

“Our annual planning process extends into the new year, which means there will be more role reductions as leaders continue to make adjustments,” he wrote. “Those decisions will be shared with impacted employees and organizations early in 2023.

Visit JeffBezosWatch.com for more stories about Amazon.

Watch this clip from the “Rudyk Report” about Amazon’s layoffs below.

This video is from the Rudyk Report channel on Brighteon.com.