Hundreds join Amazon walkout at HQ over return to work policy

SAN FRANCISCO: Hundreds of Amazon employees staged a walkout at the company’s headquarters in Seattle over the company’s return-to-work policy and its lack of progress on climate change initiatives.

According to GeekWire, the walkout by corporate and tech employees at Amazon HQ late on Wednesday may have looked like several thousand participants.

“It wasn’t an easy crowd to count. It was lunchtime, after all, and despite the free pizza on hand, plenty of people seemed to be milling on the outskirts, stopping for a quick listen as speakers aired grievances over the company’s return-to-work policy and its lack of progress on climate change initiatives,” the report noted.

Amazon Employees for Climate Justice called it a “large-scale walkout” with over 1,000 participants at the HQ.

In terms of concrete numbers, organisers said they logged 998 walkout pledges in Seattle and 2,143 worldwide.

“We are here because we want to build a better Amazon,” a speaker told the gathering.

Amazon mandated its return-to-office policy from May 1, with employees required to be back in offices at least three days per week. The e-commerce giant has also laid off 27,000 employees in two job cut announcements.

However, thousands of corporate and tech employees weren’t thrilled to return to work and joined an internal Slack channel to protest the policy.

The e-commerce giant employs more than 65,000 corporate workers in the Seattle region.