Dissatisfied with layoffs and return to office policies, Amazon employees plan to strike on May 31st

On May 22nd, local time on Monday, some employees of Amazon's Seattle headquarters in the United States announced their strike plan internally.The organizers urged colleagues to strike on May 31, one week after Amazon's annual shareholder meeting, through Slack and email, in response to the company's current layoffs and demands for employees to return to the office

On May 22nd, local time on Monday, some employees of Amazon's Seattle headquarters in the United States announced their strike plan internally.

The organizers urged colleagues to strike on May 31, one week after Amazon's annual shareholder meeting, through Slack and email, in response to the company's current layoffs and demands for employees to return to the office. In addition, some Amazon employees are also concerned about whether the company's commitment to climate issues can be fulfilled.

An Amazon employee with a workplace in Los Angeles plans to participate in the event, saying, "I feel like morale is at a historic low point." "In meetings or individual conversations with colleagues, I feel that there is too much uncertainty in the leadership, and there is a lack of explanation and clarification... Working in Amazon during this time is always unsettling

The organizers hope that this strike can attract at least 1000 employees to participate at the Seattle headquarters. Due to the increasing possibility of an economic recession, companies are laying off large-scale layoffs and freezing recruitment. This strike also indicates that the anxiety wave among Silicon Valley technology employees is spreading and there has been a commotion.

Since 2022, Amazon has laid off 27000 jobs.

On March 20th of this year, Amazon announced that it would continue to lay off 9000 employees. Four days later, the employees received more bad news: the company's human resources supervisor refused to request a petition to reconsider the 'back to office' policy.

As a result, not only are all Amazon employees required to return to work three days a week, resulting in some employees having to pack up, sell their houses, and relocate. And they don't know if the job still exists when they go to great lengths to move to the local area.

The employee who works in Los Angeles said, "Many people are in trouble and unsure how long they can continue with their work." "For me, this can be attributed to a complete lack of communication and transparency in the leadership

Amazon has recently reduced employee equity compensation and has been closing departments, cutting product lines, and optimizing leadership levels.

In March of this year, thousands of Amazon employees joined the Slack group to discuss the policy of returning to the office and began to pressure the company to make changes. After the negotiations failed, these employees ultimately decided to hold a strike next week.

This action can only continue if at least 1000 Seattle employees register to participate, including members of two parties: an informal group that has emerged to change the return to office policy, and the climate justice organization for Amazon employees.

The climate organization organized a strike in 2019, successfully forcing Amazon to promise to fulfill its commitment to addressing climate issues and achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2040. But four years later, employees who participated in the organization stated that Amazon had not fulfilled its promises.

Amazon is full of smart people who want to solve problems. We demand them to solve problems, such as figuring out what a more sustainable Amazon looks like, "said the Los Angeles employee. Amazon's leadership team has not been involved in the conversation, but has been tearing apart our trust

One of Amazon's core principles is the so-called 'Always maintain entrepreneurial spirit' (Day1), which means that the company must always operate with the flexibility and enthusiasm of its first day of entrepreneurship. But the employees who organized the strike said that the management is now "showing the behavior of the next day, leading us in the wrong direction

I think people feel very frustrated about many aspects of the company, and all of this comes from the same place: the leadership makes unilateral decisions without employee participation, "said an Amazon employee working in Seattle." I believe many people feel this way. They've had enough. They want to be listened to

At Meta, while insisting on layoffs, the company is offering huge bonuses to executives, resulting in a sharp drop in morale. At Google, employees are preparing for more rounds of layoffs.

At the recent financial report conference call, technology company executives generally depicted a more optimistic financial outlook for the company's future. But now, even in companies known for their comfort, employees are becoming increasingly restless.

Nelson Lichtenstein, a labor historian at the University of California, Santa Barbara, said that layoffs almost always create a sense of 'betrayal' among employees, which is why even in the current economic environment, employees tend to express frustration.

Among these high-tech companies, there is a feeling of creating a new world and making everything better, "he said. Even in times of economic recession or depression, a special sense of hardship and justice can still motivate employees to take action. Sometimes, this emotion can be surpassed by a moral level of anger

The problems in the technology industry began about a year ago, when US interest rates continued to rise, affecting the ability of startups to easily raise funds. Amazon was one of the first companies to acknowledge excessive recruitment due to the surge in demand. But since last year, Meta, Google, Microsoft, and Amazon have all announced layoff plans, reducing tens of thousands of jobs.

In a blog article published in March this year, Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg referred to 2023 as the "Year of Efficiency". He said, "Although I know many of you are thrilled by this, I also realize that the upcoming organizational change will bring more uncertainty and pressure

For over a decade, investors have provided almost unlimited funds to technology company executives, hoping that they can dominate the market and discover the next generation of great technologies. The technology industry has sparked a gold rush, making San Francisco, its headquarters, an emerging technology city. But now, local stores and office buildings are empty, and people often ask each other, "Did you survive this round of layoffs

Critics of the rising spending in Silicon Valley will say that the feast of tech workers will always come to an end. But the emotions of those who have not yet lost their jobs reflect increasing concerns about the direction of the technology industry and even the entire economy.

The implementation of the policy of returning to the office has also exacerbated the anxiety of Google employees. Since January this year, employees have been anxiously waiting for rumors of the company continuing to lay off employees to come true. According to insiders, employees are concerned that the company may use internal regulations to streamline employees without announcing layoffs.

Meta expects a third round of layoffs this month, with this multi month wave of layoffs planning to reduce tens of thousands of jobs. After the news of layoffs came out, employees exchanged information about layoffs and roast about the company's leadership through Blind, an anonymous workplace application. In March of this year, some users participated in an anonymous survey on Blind asking if they wanted Zuckerberg to leave the company.

According to insiders, some employees accuse the executives of these technology companies of poor investment performance and failing to avoid the overly optimistic recruitment boom, which has to some extent led to layoffs. These insiders say that many people are angry at the sudden news of layoffs and the lack of clear understanding of the company's overall mission by senior leaders.

Earlier this year, Meta submitted a document to regulatory authorities showing that the company pays generous bonuses to some executives based on individual performance exceeding the average level. This has led to a resurgence of tension between ordinary employees and senior leaders. Zuckerberg subsequently announced at an internal meeting that the company would change the current bonus system for executives after widespread complaints from employees. (Chen Chen)