| Dear Friend, Amazon’s profits increased 200 percent during the pandemic, and the company is using that money in part to expand its reach into every aspect of our lives.(1) There are 250,000 more employees working for Amazon than there were in February 2020.(2) There are more than 200 new Amazon warehouses.(3) This growth is carried on the backs of its workers, who saw their hazard pay cut by June 2020, were forced to work while ill because of terrible sick-leave policies, and were subjected to new “megacycle” 10-and-a-half-hour shifts.(4,5) Every year, the organization called Corporate Accountability inducts a Hall of Shame candidate for the worst corporate offenders. Amazon is on the ballot this year for its abuse of its workers during the pandemic, and we need to make sure that the mega-retailer is called out. Will you click here to vote Amazon into the corporate Hall of Shame? Amazon isn’t a terrible corporation just because of its mistreatment of its workers, although that would be enough. The corporation is using its power to crush small businesses that use and rely on its platform to be seen. A report by the House of Representatives found that Amazon is using artificial intelligence to identify popular products that third-party sellers offer on its site and then creates its own cheaper version to put that seller out of business.(6) The platform carries thousands of unsafe or banned products, including fake COVID-19 vaccination cards.(7,8) Ring cameras and doorbells, owned by Amazon, have easily hacked software and open users to outside dangers.(9) Amazon is also contributing to climate change with its staggering carbon footprint. The corporation is responsible for more carbon dioxide going in the atmosphere than the entire country of Switzerland.(10) These are just a few of Amazon’s bad acts, but the company is trying to bury its reputation by running expensive commercials about using electric vehicles and funding college scholarships. That’s where the Corporate Hall of Shame comes in. Once Amazon is elected into the Hall of Shame, Corporate Accountability will leverage its vast network to publicize the megacorporation's abuses and injustices far and wide. Click here to vote Amazon into the Corporate Hall of Shame! Yours in the fight against corporate abuses, Angela, along with Annie, Caitlin, Deepthi, Irene, Jay, Lindsay, LisaMarie, Molly, Raquel, and Scottie (the Courage team) Footnotes:  |
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