#BreakUpWithAmazon
As people across the country take to the streets to demand an end to police violence against Black communities, Amazon is continuing to arm police with neighborhood-surveillance cameras, power the software behind ICE deportations, and squash any attempts for basic humane reforms in its crowded warehouses — even during a global pandemic.
On the heels of Prime Day, Free Press, MediaJustice and other members of the Athena coalition are shining a light on Amazon’s dirtiest deeds and calling for divestment from this morally bankrupt company. We believe that companies like Amazon harm our communities, our democracy and our economy. Join us in sending Amazon a message that we won’t ignore these abuses: Sign the pledge to #BreakUpWithAmazon.
Using Amazon Ring cameras and its Neighbors app, the company has built an almost nationwide surveillance network of our homes and communities — and hands its data over to police. In just under a year, Ring’s partnerships with local police departments have exploded from 500 precincts to 1,400 and counting.
Amazon’s surveillance empire is a critical technology backbone for police departments and ICE, making it complicit in the criminalization of Black people and the detention and deportation of immigrants.
Amazon is also a dangerous threat to its own warehouse workers.
As the second-biggest employer in the country, Amazon provides largely low-wage jobs to a workforce composed disproportionately of people of color. And just before Prime Day, the news broke that almost 20,000 Amazon workers have been infected with COVID-19 since the pandemic hit. This number is especially horrendous in light of how the company has been surveilling and retaliating against workers who have exposed unsafe workplace practices that could cause the virus to spread.
Amazon has also been pushing invasive programs like the Time off Task (TOT) tracking system, which tracks workers’ physical movements as they take breaks or move between tasks. The system monitors workers’ every movement down to the second.
In June, warehouse workers sued Amazon for lax safety protocols and poor working conditions — including the TOT system, which can penalize workers for the time they spend washing their hands. These conditions put workers and their families at risk of contracting the virus.
Enough is enough: Sign the pledge today to break up with Amazon and refuse to be a part of its horrific surveillance empire.
