Fired Protestor Writes a Letter to Jeff Bezos


Recently, I posted about the employee strikes that were occuring at Amazon, Whole Foods and Instacart.  I have been following the story and just read the letter published in The Guardian that was written by Christian Small to Jeff Bezos.  Small was the employee who started the protests for better working conditions and was fired shortly after the protests began.

My first reaction as I sat down to read this letter was that I myself had thought of doing the same thing when I was working at Amazon.  While I was at Amazon in 2015, this article was published in the New York Times.  Bezos responded in an open email to all employees with an Amazon email address, saying he wanted us to tell him if we agreed with the idea of Amazon as a 'bruising workplace'  as the article claimed.  I wrestled with the idea because, at the time, I felt beat up.  I felt that my superiors were taking advantage of the fact that I was young, female and didn't want to quit.  But in the scheme of things, I truly didn't believe that Bezos would read any emails he received or care enought to try and address the issues brought to his attention.

Bezos, in fact, is famous for a certain type of email referred to as the question mark.  When a building isn't performing, or a certain section of the corporate side of the company is lacking, the individual who runs that building or section will get an email from Bezos with a single character, "?".  These emails were terrifying amongst Amazon's upper management.  To me, the intimidation factor that surrounds bringing issues up within this organization is just ridiculous.

Anyways, Small wrote this letter in response to what he saw going on in his building and also his termination.  He states that he was worried by the conditions within the building and had used all of his paid time off to try to stay home and away from the warehouse, but eventually ran out.  He speaks of co-workers who have underlying conditions.  Many of these individuals have resorted to living with family because they had used up all of their paid time off and couldnt't afford to pay rent when they weren't working.  He then states that "Amazon has imposed mandatory overtime to keep up with the demand of everyone ordering online. The result is that Amazon employees are going to work sick as dogs just so they can earn $2 per hour on top of their regular pay. Do you know what I call that? Blood money.” You can hear the passion in this statement.

 Small was one of the few hourly associates within a warehouse who held the title of production assistant (PA) or managerial assistant. This means that, even though he is paid by the hour, he holds more responsibility than the average associate and helps his area manager with their daily to-do list. For this reason, Small was in the meeting with managers where it was disclosed that the building had its first confirmed case of coronavirus. The message in the meeting, which Small vehemently disagreed with, was to keep the information from the associates. Small refused to do this and told as many people as he could find. He reached out to the NY State health department, the governor, the local police and the CDC, trying to get the building closed for proper sanitation. He said when he didn't get much response, he realized that the government was too overwhelmed to act at the moment. So he decided that he would do something himself.

 Small called the 'sick-out' a beautiful thing, as many other associates joined him in protest. He says that he has heard from other associates at other locations who want to stage their own 'sick-out's. While he is upset that his actions have cost him his job, he claims that it was worth it to draw attention to this issue.

 He ends his letter with a statement for Bezos. He says, "Without us working, what are you going to do? You'll have no money. We have the power. We make money for you. Never forget that."

 You can find the full letter here.

 ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 I'm curious to hear what thoughts my readers might have on this issue. Feel free to let me know!

 -Vicky

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Waves

Image
I've recently started doing some research on the recommendations for women when they begin trying to conceive (TTC - a new abbreviation that I've become aware of).  The internet, as many of us know, can sometimes be a bit of a black hole.  You go in looking for one thing and come out with a million more questions and even more confusion than you started with.  Which is why, I didn't JUST go to the internet.  I also sent texts out to all of my friends who are already mommas and asked them to share with me what they did during this stage. What I received from friends was a sense of excitement that this journey was close to beginning for me, knowledge sharing about what worked for them, questions about the timing we were considering, and ultimately just support and an offer of being there for whatever questions come up during my research & the process in general. I maybe shouldn't have chosen the week of my period to dive into all of this.... as most women know, hor...
Read more

Keepin' it 100

Image
  I am a proud member of the millennial generation, less commonly known as Generation Y.  Born in 1991, I sit somewhere in the middle of the generation, which spans from 1981 to 1996.  When you read about the millennial generation, I find that a few things stand out. Millennials are mainly the children of Baby Boomers We came of age with the internet in the 90s-2000s; Most of us didn't have cell phones until 7th or 8th grade.  We remember dial up-internet & often cringe when looking back at how we used Facebook in high school.  Most of our computer and video games had educational elements. We also have lived through a number of once in a lifetime  global events, namely: Creation of the Internet (mid to late 90s) 9/11 Terrorist Attacks of 2001 - I was in 2nd or 3rd grade. Hurricane Katrina (2005) 'The Great Recession" (2007-2008) Student Debt Crisis Housing Market Collapse 1st Black President (Obama - 2009) Gay Marriage Legalized (2015) Trump Elected (20...
Read more

Stoplight

Image
I've recently started seeing a new therapist.  As you may have seen from my last post, I've also been thinking about visiting smash rooms to let out emotions (still haven't managed to try one out yet!).   For me, therapy has always been a space where I am able to get vulnerable and real with someone who really doesn't know me.  And even though it happens every time I return to therapy for support, I'm always surprised to hear the shock that many mental health professionals have at my steadfast and lofty standards, for myself exclusively.  These standards, of course, began for me at a very young age. In psychology, the concept of nature vs. nurture is often discussed.  This is the idea that both nature and nurture play a role in how someone turns out. Experiments have shown that even identical twins can develop significant differences when they grow up in different environments.  Most research, however, eventually posits that both nature and nurtu...
Read more