Amazon has recently been under fire for accusations of harsh working conditions and unequal pay, and now, employees are striking back on one of the company’s most important days of the year, Prime Day.
According to Bloomberg, Amazon employees in its Shakopee, Minnesota warehouse will be on a six-hour strike on July 15, the first day of Amazon’s annual Prime Day event, which goes until July 16. Although this isn’t the first strike for many US workers for the e-commerce site, this marks the first time they’ve decided to do it on a crucial sales day for the company.
Interesting enough, striking on critical sales days is a common occurrence for their European counterparts due to unionization and greater employee protections.
“Amazon is going to be telling one story about itself, which is they can ship a Kindle to your house in one day, isn’t that wonderful,” said William Stolz, one of the organizers of the strike. “We want to take the opportunity to talk about what it takes to make that work happen and put pressure on Amazon to protect us and provide safe, reliable jobs.”
Amazon issued an emailed statement, which read, “The fact is Amazon offers already what this outside organization is asking for. We provide great employment opportunities with excellent pay – ranging from $16.25-$20.80 an hour, and comprehensive benefits including health care, up to 20 weeks parental leave, paid education, promotional opportunities, and more.”
The statement continued, “We encourage anyone to compare our pay, benefits, and workplace to other retailers and major employers in the Shakopee community and across the country – and we invite anyone to see for themselves by taking a tour of the facility.”
The likelihood that the Minnesota strike will affect Amazon Prime Day is very minimal seeing as Amazon has over 100 warehouses across the States; however, some employees are worried about consequences they may face from the strike. Employees of the company recently filed complaints with the National Labor Relations Board claiming that Amazon’s staffing vendor Integrity Staffing Solutions fired one of the organizers from a previous strike and deducted strike time from the employees’ quarterly leave allowance, as a form of punishment.
But don’t worry, you’ll more than likely still get your packages on time!
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