Wayfair employees leave offices to protest furniture sales to migrant detention centers

Employees at the headquarters of the online furniture retailer Wayfair left their offices on Wednesday to protest the company’s $200,000 furniture sale to a government contractor that manages migrant detention centers at the border.

In footage shared online, employees at the Boston-based headquarters were seen exiting the building with signs reading phrases like “#WayfairWalkout” and “Don’t look away.” One bystander on the street even reportedly yelled at the workers, “Get back to your desks!” 

Happening NOW: The first group of @Wayfair employees walk out of the company’s Boston-based HQs to protest Wayfair’s $200K sale of furniture to a contractor of migrant detention camps at the southern border. “Get back to your desks!” a man on the street yells at them. pic.twitter.com/suxWlMEXEo

— Joey Garrison (@joeygarrison) June 26, 2019

Another video showed a larger crowd of protesters and some Wayfair workers protesting in Copley Square, a public square in the heart of Boston. 

Copley Square in front of Trinity Church is filled with protestors but majority not @Wayfair workers #WayfairWalkout pic.twitter.com/KrSFTF3nTg

— Janet Wu (@JanetWuNews) June 26, 2019

LIVE: Wayfair employees walkout to protest decision to sell furniture to gov’t contractor that runs detention center for migrant kids. https://t.co/LxMk8SNhVd

— ABC News (@ABC) June 26, 2019

The protests come shortly after employees with the furniture retailer learned of the company’s $200,000 sale of bedroom furniture to BCFS, a nonprofit contractor of migrant detention centers.

Shortly after the employees discovered the sale, more than 500 staffers signed onto a letter calling on the company to cease doing business with the contract.

After the letter was sent to the company’s leadership team, executives reportedly told the employees that, as a retailer, “it is standard practice to fulfill orders for all customers and we believe it is our business to sell to any customer who is acting within the laws of the countries in which we operate.”

According to a Twitter account set up for the walkout, employees have since asked that Wayfair donate all profits made from the sale to the advocacy group Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES).

tl;dr – Wayfair sold beds to furnish border camps; 547 employees signed a petition to ask that we cease all business with border camps; CEO said no —>employees are walking out tmrw at 1:30pm. We ask that Wayfair donate all profits made from the sale to RAICES #WayfairWalkout

— wayfairwalkout (@wayfairwalkout) June 25, 2019

It is unclear how the company plans to respond to the request. The retailer has not yet returned a request for comment from The Hill.