Hundreds walk out from Amazon HQ protesting return to work policy
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San Francisco: At e-commerce giant Amazon's Seattle headquarters, hundreds of workers staged a walkout in protest of the company's return-to-work policy and its lack of advancement on climate change measures.
The walkout by corporate and tech workers at Amazon HQ late on Wednesday may have included thousands of people, according to GeekWire.
"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 leader employs more than 65,000 corporate workers in the Seattle region.
(With inputs from IANS)
