Amazon Employees built a makeshift Guillotine outside the house of Jeff Bezos just a day after he was crowned as the first man with 200 billion USD wealth.
Reportedly this was a protest staged by the Jeff’s employees who work on hourly basis. They demonstrated their anguish with current wages amid the rising business of Amazon. More than 100 protestors came at his doorstep to demand a raise from the richest man in the world. Amazon did 85 billion USD business since January 2020 which boosted Jeff Bezos’ wealth during the coronavirus crises.
Why Amazon Employees Have Called Protest against Jeff Bezos
Despite the ever-increasing wealth of Jeff Bezos, Amazon’s employee satisfaction has reportedly kept on decreasing. Several employees expressed dissent on the working ethics within the company. They have accused the tech giant of enforcing mandatory overtime during the pandemic despite employees feeling unsafe during rising COVID-19 cases in America.
The protest was led by the Congress of Essential Workers (CEW) founded by former Amazon worker, Christian Smalls who is also an outspoken critic of the tech giant. Protestors called for a raise in the minimum wage from 15 USD to 30 USD per hour due to a surge in Bezos’ wealth. Moreover, they also requested hazard pay and personal protective equipment from the company.
How Did Amazon Respond To The Protest?
The tech giant did not respond to the media about protest but there were few reports of its philanthropic efforts. The company created 175,000 jobs and donated 27 million USD to Black Lives Matter Movement this year. However, 8.5 million USD of this donation came from the employees.
Reportedly, it also distributed a one-time bonus of 500 million USD among its front line workers and partners. But, it did not disclose how many employees received this bonus. Hourly workers partially received higher wages out of Amazon’s COVID-19 expenses that were around 4 billion USD. The tech giant raised minimum wage to 15 USD just two years ago.
What Is The Symbolism Of Using Guillotine As A Prop?
The main ideology behind the invention of the Guillotine was equality; the cornerstone of the French Revolution. Dr. Joseph Ignace Guillotine invented the structure and proposed to the National Assembly in 1789. It became an official execution method in 1792 that treated everyone equally under the law. The French communities never saw it as something negative, in fact, it was regarded as the avenging arm of the people. When King Louise XIV was executed, he was brought down to the social level of his peasants who continued jeering his beheaded corpse.
The equalizing effect of the Guillotine gave a sense of freedom to the French republic and showed everyone that country is a public matter. Amazon protestors used that same ideology to imply their wages and the amount of effort in their work is not equal.
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