Amazon workers planning walkout at Seattle headquarters

Amazon employees are planning a walkout at the company’s Seattle headquarters Wednesday in protest of a slew of moves the company made in the past year. 

According to Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ), a climate change advocacy group founded by company employees, more than 1,800 employees across the world pledged to walk out, including 870 who work at the Seattle headquarters. 

Some employees are planning to gather at the Amazon Sphere, a four-story structure in downtown Seattle, and others will participate in the lunchtime protest remotely. 

The group says the company has been slow to address its impact on climate change, with AECJ noting how the company’s emissions usage increased to 40 percent after announcing the Climate Pledge agreement in 2019. The advocacy group says the company must do more to meet zero emissions by 2030.

“The climate crisis is here now, and this is a real chance to stand together in solidarity to save every last slice of earth that we can,” AEJC said in a news release. “By joining this walkout, you’ll join a group of Amazon employees who are pushing Amazon to do better on climate and intersecting issues, and together we can make change at our company.”

An Amazon spokesperson said it will “take time” for the company get to net zero carbon.

“We continue to push hard on getting to net carbon zero by 2040, and we have over 400 companies who’ve joined us in our Climate Pledge. While we all would like to get there tomorrow, for companies like ours who consume a lot of power, and have very substantial transportation, packaging, and physical building assets, it’ll take time to accomplish,” the spokesperson said.

“We remain on track to get to 100% renewable energy by 2025, and will continue investing substantially, inventing and collaborating both internally and externally to reach our goal.”

The walkout comes a month after a company-implemented policy took effect requiring employees to return to the office for three days a week. 

Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a February memo that the company made the decision after seeing how employees worked during the pandemic, concluding that employees tend to be more engaged and collaborative in person. 

The walkout also follows rounds of layoffs at the company in the past months, as Amazon cut 27,000 jobs in its advertising, human resources, gaming, stores, devices, and web services divisions. 

The Associated Press contributed.

Updated: 12:06 p.m.