Reuters reports that a new campaign has been launched designed to pressure Amazon and its founder-CEO, Jeff Bezos to "act decisively to change your policies and priorities to do right by your workers, their communities, and our planet." The campaign, dubbed "Make Amazon Pay," charges that the company has "dodged" its responsibilities, and says that its signatories stand ready to take political action against the company.
The Reuters story says that "more than 400 lawmakers from 34 countries," including representatives of some 50 organizations," have signed a letter to Bezos, saying, "We stand ready to act in our respective legislatures to support the movement that is growing around the world to Make Amazon Pay.”
According to the piece, "The letter’s signatories include U.S. Congresswomen Ilhan Omar and Rashida Tlaib, former UK Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn and Vice President of the European Parliament Heidi Hautala."
Amazon is used to the criticisms, and has been dealing with legislative and regulatory challenges in many of its global markets. Responding to the letter, the company said that "Amazon has a strong track record of supporting our employees, our customers, and our communities, including providing safe working conditions, competitive wages and great benefits," and it said that it pays "billions of dollars in taxes globally."
Reuters notes that Amazon has also pledged to be net carbon neutral by 2040.
- KC's View:
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I have two reactions to this.
First, Amazon is being held to a high standard - if you want to be seen as a 21st century company, you have to behave with a 21st century sensibility. I think Amazon tries, but even they probably would admit that they're not perfect. But that's not good enough, especially when the spotlight never gets turned off. It may not be fair, but I'm not sure it is a bad thing for a company so ubiquitous and intertwined in our lives.
Second … I'd love to know how many of the signatories are Prime members. Just for the hell of it.
