Amazon
Working through injuries, bomb threats and tornadoes: Amazon workers describe conditions at Spartanburg, South Carolina warehouse
By Tom Carter, 13 January 2020
According to OSHA, there were 57 injuries last year at the GSP1 facility—but Amazon workers suspect the real number is higher.
At what human cost?
Amazon Logistics set to surpass delivery volume of FedEx, UPS by 2022
By Kayla Costa, 21 December 2019
The advanced techniques of workplace exploitation along with low wages and breakneck conditions that have made Amazon notorious are being set as the standard for the entire logistics industry.
Amazon workers in California win job back for fired co-workers
By Kayla Costa, 9 October 2019
The development is a result of a recent group formed by workers at a delivery center in Sacramento, California, who submitted a petition of 78 signatures demanding the rehiring, full back pay, and paid time off for all part-time workers.
Jeff Bezos’ Whole Foods slashes medical benefits for nearly 2,000 part-time workers
By Eddie Haywood, 3 October 2019
Bezos, net worth $115 billion, makes enough money in 2 to 6 hours to more than cover the cost of an entire year of benefits for all of the workers facing cuts.
Scores arrested in protests against ICE in New York City
By Owen Mullan, 13 August 2019
The demonstrations pointed to the collaboration between border police and US technology firms such as Amazon.
Trump orders review of Pentagon’s JEDI cloud computing contract
By Nick Barrickman, 5 August 2019
Trump’s decision to halt the bidding process reflects concerns over Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos’ opposition to the administration’s policies.
Chicago Amazon workers confront management, demand improvements
By George Gallanis, 25 July 2019
The day after international protests against Amazon during Prime Day, Chicago Amazon workers staged a “walk-in” to demand increased pay, health insurance and air conditioning in their facility.
Amazon workers internationally protest against conditions on Prime Day
By Kayla Costa, 16 July 2019
Across the US and in Europe, Amazon workers are protesting dangerous working conditions, low pay and the company’s ties to the US immigration Gestapo.
Jeff Bezos flaunts obscene wealth with $80 million Manhattan penthouse purchase
By Clare Hurley, 16 July 2019
Bezos’ $137 billion combined wealth could pay the annual median rent for all 250,000 Amazon workers in the US for 100 years.
“Amazon is a murderer and has to be stopped”
Amazon call center worker in Rabat, Morocco speaks out against company harassment
By Will Morrow, 13 July 2019
Ismaila N’Diaye, a 32-year-old former Amazon customer service employee in Rabat, said the life of his family has been torn apart by the company.
Amazon’s 25th anniversary: A conglomerate based on parasitism and exploitation
By Tom Carter, 8 July 2019
The technology and infrastructure behind Amazon’s meteoric trajectory and the biggest individual fortune in modern history must be turned towards the needs and aspirations of the world’s population as a whole.
Amazon’s meat grinder in the Dallas, Texas suburbs
By Tom Carter, 2 July 2019
Over a two-year period, 567 workers were injured at Amazon’s DFW7 fulfillment center in Fort Worth, Texas.
Creating the framework for government-directed online censorship
House Judiciary Committee begins antitrust inquiry into big tech
By Kevin Reed, 14 June 2019
A House subcommittee hearing on Tuesday began a major bipartisan drive for government-directed censorship of website and social media content.
Amazon posts record $3.6 billion profit in first three months of 2019
By Niles Niemuth, 27 April 2019
Amazon plans to increase the exploitation of workers in the US and internationally by implementing free one day shipping for Prime subscribers to ensure ever-bigger profits.
Replying to Woody Allen suit, Amazon acknowledges McCarthyite character of #MeToo campaign
By David Walsh, 6 April 2019
Lawyers for Amazon Studios filed a motion in federal court in New York City on Wednesday seeking to dismiss a lawsuit launched by filmmaker Woody Allen. Their arguments were extremely revealing.
Amazon Air cargo flight crashes after vicious cost-cutting
By Erik Schreiber, 2 April 2019
The immediate cause of a cargo flight crash near Houston is as yet unknown, but it took place in the context of management’s relentless attacks on workers’ pay and on safety standards.
Amazon software engineer in second month of protests against conditions
By Paul Fuller and Kayla Costa, 22 March 2019
Oleg Churyumov has carried out a hunger strike, picketed and written blog posts against the company’s imposition of grueling conditions for professional and warehouse workers alike.
Report details suicide crisis inside Amazon facilities
By E.P. Milligan, 15 March 2019
The mental health epidemic that has exploded within the corporate behemoth is the direct result of the brutal exploitation of its workforce.
Amazon HQ2’s campus connection
The marriage of militarism, big business and academia in Northern Virginia
By Nick Barrickman, 9 March 2019
The integration of US imperialism, academia and corporate America raises the need to expropriate massive companies like Amazon and place them under democratic control.
Cuts to hours for Whole Foods workers exposes fraud of Amazon pay increase
By Tom Hall, 8 March 2019
A report in the Guardian showed that workers at the Amazon-owned grocery chain have had their hours cut back to compensate for last year’s pay increase to $15 per hour.
After months of courtship, Amazon calls off New York HQ2 deal
By Clare Hurley, 18 February 2019
The decision to pull out over opposition from workers locally comes amid news that Amazon paid no taxes last year.
Woody Allen sues Amazon for failing to distribute his latest film and other breaches of contract
By David Walsh, 9 February 2019
Amazon’s refusal to distribute Allen’s film and honor its contract with him is a brazen act of censorship that is the direct product of the #MeToo witch hunt.
Lawsuit alleges Amazon caused worker’s death
By Jeff Lusanne, 2 February 2019
The wife of a worker who died at a Joliet, Illinois Amazon warehouse in 2017 has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Amazon for the extreme delay of medical treatment that led to his death.
“Amazon is really cold-hearted to its workers”
Injured Amazon worker forced to work to avoid being fired
By Nick Barrickman, 19 January 2019
A mother of two employed at an Amazon facility in east Baltimore contacted the International Amazon Workers Voice to relay her experiences with the web technology giant after being injured on the job.
Ironworker killed at Amazon construction site in California
By Tom Carter, 17 January 2019
Brien Daunt, 45, was killed Saturday at the construction site of a new Amazon fulfillment center near Bakersfield, California.
Amazon hires public relations firm to counter popular hostility to headquarters project in New York City
By Clare Hurley, 11 January 2019
Amazon’s desperate public relations campaign represents an inverse reflection of mounting opposition to the conglomerate’s practices.
South Park episodes dramatize plight of Amazon workers, ridicule Jeff Bezos
By Ed Hightower, 9 January 2019
The two comic episodes, Unfulfilled and Bike Parade, sympathize with rebellious Amazon workers while depicting billionaire Jeff Bezos as a Talosian, an alien from Star Trek bent on the enslavement of humanity.
Amazon worker describes brutal conditions at Tracy, California warehouse during Camp Fire
By Evan Blake, 3 January 2019
Amazon workers in Tracy were forced to continue laboring in the smoke-filled air produced by the fire, making working conditions even worse than usual.
“Amazon ruined my life”
Amazon hired private detectives to spy on injured worker
By Tom Hall, 22 December 2018
Having denied surgery for Michelle Quinones’s wrist injury, Amazon’s workers compensation administrator Sedgwick hired private investigators to spy on and harass Michelle.
Police break up Amazon workers’ protest over oppressive conditions
By Anthony Bertolt, 19 December 2018
In the face of a heavy police presence, Amazon workers demonstrated against productivity requirements at Amazon’s Shakopee, Minnesota fulfillment center.
“I think the whole shipping business is a little corrupt”
Amazon worker wrongfully fired for theft reveals company’s dead-end appeal system
By Nick Barrickman, 18 December 2018
A former employee at Amazon’s BWI-5 facility in Baltimore, Maryland contacted the International Amazon Workers Voice to describe what can only be called a nightmare of corporate red tape at his former employer.
Australian Amazon worker alleges unfair dismissal
By Oscar Grenfell, 13 December 2018
The Sydney worker has claimed he was sacked for joining a union and asking for more hours per week.
Black Friday strikes hit Amazon in Europe
By our reporters, 24 November 2018
Amazon workers launched strikes and protests in Germany, Spain, Italy, Poland, France and the UK.
Amazon dictates terms to New York over second headquarters
By Guillaume Garnier, 21 November 2018
The deal between Amazon and the city and state will provide billions to the world’s richest company.
The government’s $4.6 billion handout to Amazon
Why Amazon should be expropriated
By Tom Carter, 17 November 2018
The billions in subsidies granted to Amazon for its new headquarters demonstrate the prostration of the entire political establishment before this massive conglomerate.
Amazon worker dies of heart attack at facility in Murfreesboro, Tennessee
By E.P. Milligan, 14 November 2018
Mike Gellasch, 61, allegedly died because no one could find a working communication device to call for help in time.
Amazon announces new headquarters in metropolitan New York City and Washington D.C.
By Trévon Austin, 14 November 2018
The culmination of Amazon’s year-long pageant is indicative of the immense power of giant transnational corporations and the oligarchs who head them.
Two workers killed as wall collapses at Baltimore Amazon facility
By E.P. Milligan, 5 November 2018
Basic safety precautions are routinely ignored at Amazon facilities throughout the world.
“It is like a pyramid scheme and we’re the worker ants at the bottom”
Amazon workers in Downriver Michigan speak to SEP candidate Niles Niemuth
By our reporters, 31 October 2018
Niles spoke with Amazon workers about working conditions as well as the Trump administration’s deployment of the military against immigrant workers.
Amazon whistleblower Shannon Allen: Celebrated $15 base pay represents pay cut for some workers
By Tom Carter, 16 October 2018
Amazon workers have reported to the International Amazon Workers Voice that the pay changes have been accompanied by a general “tightening up” of the tyrannical internal regime in the warehouses.
Bonus removal cancels out Amazon’s UK pay rise
By Alice Summers, 13 October 2018
Workers are effectively paying for their own wage increase through the slashing of employee benefits, share and incentive schemes, with some possibly seeing a net loss.
Injured US Amazon workers face “workers compensation” regime rigged in favor of employers
By John Marion and Evan Cohen, 10 October 2018
Injured workers are denied medical treatment and bullied into getting back to work as quickly as possible.
Bernie Sanders covers for Jeff Bezos as fraud of $15 pay raise at Amazon is exposed
By Tom Hall, 6 October 2018
Sanders immediately abandoned his criticism of Jeff Bezos after the company’s cynical publicity stunt, and embraced him as a great reformer.
The fraud of Amazon’s $15 wage
By Eric London, 4 October 2018
The “raise” announced by Jeff Bezos, the richest man in the world, is a publicity stunt aimed above all at preventing an explosion of the class struggle.
What’s behind Amazon’s plan to raise its minimum wage to $15 an hour?
By Jerry White, 3 October 2018
With anger growing over poverty level wages and sweatshop conditions at Amazon, the retail giant and logistics company will implement a small pay increase on November 1.
New Amazon facility in Oregon: Tax cuts for corporation, poverty wages for workers
By Kayla Costa and Emily Edison, 27 September 2018
Local and state representatives of both capitalist parties approved a $213 million tax cut for the internet retail and logistics giant.
“I’ve been wanting to speak up for a long time. I have nothing to lose”
Another homeless grandmother details nightmarish aftermath of Amazon workplace injury
By Eric London, 21 September 2018
Tammy Edgar says she became homeless after she fell at work while avoiding a heavy machine, which flew off a table at her.
Silicon Valley’s corrupt nexus: War, censorship and inequality
By Andre Damon, 17 September 2018
The appearance of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos at the Air Force Association’s annual conference embodies the fusion of America’s technology monopolies with the apparatus of state repression.
Amazon market capitalization surpasses $1 trillion
By E.P. Milligan, 7 September 2018
Amazon’s soaring profits, like those of Apple, are the direct result of the brutal exploitation of its workforce.
“Amazon thinks I’m a piece of trash on the ground and they’ll walk all over me”
Amazon Nightmare: Grandmother injured on the job goes homeless, suffers pneumonia
By Eric London and Zac Corrigan, 3 September 2018
Carol's story exposes the nightmarish conditions and brutal exploitation that has fueled the growth of online retailers like Amazon.
Amazon unleashes army of Twitter trolls to improve its image
By Erik Schreiber, 27 August 2018
The company's primary objective is to mitigate the damage from increasingly common exposures of the punishing conditions at its warehouses.
Amazon Prime Day produces 209 percent increase in UK health and safety complaints
By Steve James, 24 August 2018
Prime Day saw strikes at Amazon warehouses in Germany and Spain and a work to rule in Poland.
“I had to sell my cell phone to pay for food”
Spanish Amazon worker, fired for injury, faces prospect of homelessness
By Eric London, 13 August 2018
José Antonio Rueda Bermudez, his wife and young daughter, face homelessness due to Amazon's refusal to pay medical costs for his serious on-the-job injury.
Amazon worker Shannon Allen opposes censorship of her video statement by Teamsters-linked Facebook page
By Will Morrow, 11 August 2018
Shannon said the censorship of her video showed that the Teamsters union is fearful of workers from Amazon and UPS forming rank-and-file committees and linking up their struggles.
Following IAWV exposure at Texas warehouse
More Amazon workers speak out against atrocious working conditions
By Evan Cohen, 3 August 2018
Amazon warehouse workers face staggering rates of injuries, routine harassment, high turnover and authoritarian surveillance.
$3,000 per second for Bezos, poverty wages for Amazon workers
By Eric London, 18 July 2018
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos's $150 billion fortune was squeezed out of hundreds of thousands of warehouse, service and delivery workers.
Police beat up Amazon strikers in Spain
By James Lerner and Paul Mitchell, 18 July 2018
Until the police attack, the Amazon workers and their supporters had been peacefully picketing as police escorted trucks and scabs into the warehouse.
As Jeff Bezos’ wealth reaches $150 billion
Unions strangle strike efforts by European Amazon workers on Prime Day
By Will Morrow and Genevieve Leigh, 17 July 2018
Prime Day is treated as a virtual public holiday by the corporate media, akin to Black Friday, but it is synonymous with increased exploitation for Amazon and other shipping workers.
Open letter by Amazon workers opposes contracts with immigration and police agencies
By Kayla Costa, 25 June 2018
The Amazon workers wrote that they were “deeply concerned” that the company was implicated in Trump’s immoral immigration policy and was “providing infrastructure and services that enable ICE and DHS.”
Report documents abuse of Chinese workers at Foxconn supplier plant for Amazon
By Alec Andersen, 16 June 2018
China Labor Watch has exposed the barbaric and illegal practices on which Amazon relies to boost its profits.
The oligarchy rules: Amazon and corporations veto Seattle homelessness tax
By Will Morrow, 13 June 2018
It took just four weeks for the Democratic Party-controlled city council to completely capitulate to the campaign by Amazon and other corporations.
Amazon, Microsoft and Google compete for Pentagon Cloud warfighter project
By Will Morrow, 30 May 2018
The technology giant that secures the contract will administer the US military’s global operations.
Amazon providing facial recognition technology to police agencies for mass surveillance
By Will Morrow, 24 May 2018
The technology allows police to immediately identify and track individuals captured on video in public places.
Seattle City Council and Kshama Sawant capitulate to Amazon, pass watered-down head tax
By Alec Andersen, 19 May 2018
The city council unanimously gave in to Amazon’s demands after the company threatened to cut 7,000 jobs if a higher head tax were enacted.
“It is like being tortured in your mind and your body for 10 hours a night”
Injured Amazon worker describes high-tech dystopia inside Texas warehouse
By Tom Carter, 8 May 2018
Shannon Allen described brutal working conditions, authoritarian-style surveillance of workers in the facility, and management demands to maintain frenetic rates of speed.
The case for expropriation
Amazon halts construction in Seattle to protest tax hike
By Eric London, 4 May 2018
Amazon’s market capitalization is $757.9 billion. Conditions of life for billions of people could be drastically improved by expropriating this wealth.
Boston: Amazon HQ2 bid targets working class suburbs
By John Marion, 3 May 2018
The headquarters would be built in East Boston and Revere, forcing out working class residents.
Report: Amazon and Tesla among most dangerous workplaces in the US
By Evan Blake, 1 May 2018
Speedup and disregard for safety have generated immense profits for the owners and shareholders of both tech giants.
Maryland lawmakers offer Amazon $8.5 billion to locate headquarters near CIA and Pentagon
By Adam Soroka, 19 April 2018
Maryland is a finalist for Amazon’s “HQ2” because of the region’s proximity to the headquarters of Amazon’s partners at the CIA, NSA, FBI and US military.
Spain: Mounting anger among Amazon workers exposes “victory” claims following March strike
By Alejandro López, 12 April 2018
The unions do not want to call for an indefinite strike and appeal to Amazon workers in Spain and Europe because they fear such a confrontation will win broad popular support.
Spain’s Amazon workers call first ever strike at Madrid hub
By Alejandro López, 19 March 2018
For more than a year, Amazon has been negotiating with the unions to impose a new agreement that would drastically reduce workers’ rights.
Amazon set to open new depot in Sheffield—“low pay capital of the UK”
By Danny Richardson, 20 February 2018
Sheffield and its surrounding area was previously a major steel producing region with Amazon building its “Fulfilment Centres” in the South Yorkshire area on shuttered steel plants.
Another $6 billion for Bezos overnight
Amazon reports record profit in final quarter of 2017
By Will Morrow, 3 February 2018
Amazon’s profits are the outcome of the brutal exploitation of the company’s global workforce of over 550,000 people.
Corporate giants announce partnership to cut employer health care costs
By Barry Grey, 31 January 2018
The initiative heralds a further monopolization of health care by a handful of billionaire-run corporations and a further subordination of social needs to Wall Street.
Amazon narrows rat race for second HQ to 20 cities
By Mark Ferretti, 23 January 2018
Twenty cities and regions are entering a second round of jockeying, flattery and bribery to woo the mammoth retailer.
It’s the most exhausting time of the year: Amazon, UPS workers denounce grueling holiday conditions
By our reporters, 30 December 2017
Amid reports of deaths at Amazon and UPS, workers at Amazon, UPS, FedEx, US Postal Service, and other logistics and delivery companies have been under immense pressure to meet increased demand during the Christmas holiday.
Amazon begins operations in Australia
By Patrick Kelly, 28 December 2017
Amazon is notorious internationally for its appalling treatment of warehouse workers.
Amazon worker dies after vomiting blood at Sacramento, California fulfillment center
By Kristina Betinis, 23 December 2017
This is at least the third death in recent months for the world’s largest online retailer, and the company has nearly doubled its workforce for holiday sales.
OSHA dragging its feet investigating death of Pennsylvania Amazon worker Devan Shoemaker
By Douglas Lyons, 20 December 2017
28-year-old Devan Shoemaker was run over by a tractor-trailer while working for Amazon. He leaves behind a young son and wife.
Amazon conducts total surveillance of workers in new German plant
By Marianne Arens, 16 December 2017
“One speaks of robots becoming more and more like humans, at Amazon it’s the other way round: humans become robots.”
Amazon workers ask “$100 billion man” Jeff Bezos: where’s my cut?
By our reporters, 9 December 2017
When reporters for the International Amazon Workers Voice interviewed part-time Amazon workers in Baltimore to discuss their attitude toward Bezos’ ill-gotten fortune, they were met with a torrent of disgust and calls for sharing the wealth.
“We’re human beings, not slaves and animals”
UK newspaper exposé details Amazon’s super-exploitation of workforce
By Robert Stevens and John Newham, 30 November 2017
A Sunday Mirror reporter conducted a five-week undercover investigation at Amazon’s Tilbury fulfilment centre
Amazon builds low-wage Maryland plant on ashes of largest steel mill in US
By Adam Soroka, 27 November 2017
The construction of the facility on the site of a former Bethlehem Steel mill is indicative of the decline of American capitalism.
Jeff Bezos’ $100 billion: The case for expropriation
By Eric London, 27 November 2017
The wealth of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos, together with the trillions of dollars hoarded by his fellow billionaires, could be used to wipe out poverty, disease, and social misery.
Amazon announces new cloud to host “Secret” government data
By Evan Blake, 24 November 2017
The creation of the AWS Secret Cloud places Amazon at the center of the global surveillance operations of American imperialism.
House to vote on giving Amazon $53 billion deal to become main Pentagon supplier
By Evan Blake, 11 November 2017
If the bill becomes law, Amazon will be providing hundreds of thousands of CIA agents, military personnel, prosecutors, and immigration agents with their pencils, desks, and chairs.
Temp work past the age of retirement
Amazon’s CamperForce program exploits elderly workers
By Evan Blake, 6 November 2017
Every year, Amazon hires thousands of temporary workers in their 50s, 60s and 70s to carry out backbreaking labor during the holiday season.
With Amazon stock surge, Jeff Bezos becomes richest person in the world overnight
By Evan Blake, 30 October 2017
Following a strong earnings report, Bezos amassed more money in a day than his entire warehouse workforce earns in a year.
Trudeau courts Amazon CEO to locate its second headquarters in Canada
By Laurent Lafrance, 27 October 2017
In a “Dear Jeff” letter, Trudeau served up Canadian workers on a silver platter to the mega-billionaire Jeff Bezos whose giant conglomerate ruthlessly exploits its global workforce.
Amazon workers force company to rehire unjustly fired worker after IAWV exposure
By Samuel Davidson, 10 October 2017
The re-hiring may seem like a small victory, but it is an indication of the strength Amazon workers have when they unite to protect one another’s rights.
Is $12 an hour a fair wage for Amazon workers?
By Samuel Davidson, 4 October 2017
An International Amazon Workers Voice investigation reveals that the prevalence of temporary and part-time work means most Amazon workers struggle to make poverty-rate wages.
Workers denounce Amazon for speed-ups after two die on the job
By Christopher Davion, 2 October 2017
Phillip Terry was crushed by a forklift at the plant outside Indianapolis, and Devan Shoemaker was run over by a truck in South Middletown Township, Pennsylvania.
Why is Amazon deleting negative reviews of Hillary Clinton’s new book?
By Andre Damon, 15 September 2017
Amazon has deleted over a thousand negative reviews of What Happened?, Hillary Clinton’s account of the 2016 presidential election.
Price gouging at Amazon and the case for public ownership
By Eric London, 8 September 2017
The world’s most powerful and wealthy corporations are taking advantage of desperate people in Florida who are trying to buy bottled water online as store supplies run out.
Single mother in Pittsburgh fired by Amazon for not working forced overtime
By Samuel Davidson, 1 September 2017
The mother of two was fired even after a supervisor told her it was okay not to work overtime at the end of her 4 am to 8 am shift.
It's like an “early 1900s factory”
Walgreens pharmacy workers in Michigan speak out against harsh working conditions
By George Kirby, 29 August 2017
The WSWS spoke to workers at Walgreens’ Specialty Pharmacies, who face similar working conditions to Amazon warehouse workers.
Protests against Amazon’s bid to seize land from historic African-American community in Virginia
By Nick Barrickman and Alex González, 21 August 2017
As if returning to feudal times, Amazon, with billionaire CEO Jeff Bezos at its helm, is upending communities with historic ties to the great democratic gains from the American Civil War.
Working life at a Pittsburgh Amazon warehouse
By Samuel Davidson, 10 August 2017
”You are not supposed to talk, just supposed to work in this hive. That is what it looks like in there, a beehive, and we are working in a honeycomb.”
Amazon and Foxconn in Kenosha, Wisconsin: The new American “special economic zone”
By Christopher Davion, 8 August 2017
Local and state officials plan to transform the region into a platform for low wage manufacturing and distribution giants.
“It’s like we are going back to the early 1900s before workers had any rights”
Amazon job applicants speak on social crisis in US
By Isaac Finn, 4 August 2017
Workers at Amazon’s job fair described living and working conditions in Ohio and Massachusetts to the World Socialist Web Site and International Amazon Workers Voice.
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