Amazon does not want labor rights

Perhaps you have not even found out, since they have not yet arrived in Spain, that Amazon opened physical stores years ago. Among the shops that he inaugurated, several futuristic supermarkets stood out in which there were no cashiers: a constellation of security cameras recorded each product added to the shopping cart and billed it on Amazon. Likewise, it also opened bookstores and some establishments that it called 4 stars (there you could find the products with the highest ratings on its website).

The first of these stores opened its doors in Seattle in 2015 and from there began a rapid expansion throughout many American states and the United Kingdom. In them, in addition to merchandising for their fanboys , their hardware products (electronic books, smart speakers and their Basic product line) were sold and online orders could be collected and returned.

However, at the beginning of March the company announced the closure of 68 of these stores (all bookstores and 4 stars). The decision, which in principle could be attributed to the pandemic since physical stores only contributed 3% of their turnover in the last quarter -according to Reuters-, masks a much more sinister and worrying policy: their employees had begun to organize to get better wages, more flexible attendance policies, longer breaks, and other benefits.

It is not the first time that Amazon has shown its disdain for the labor rights of its staff. In fact, it has funded lobbying campaigns to get its employees to vote against creating unions at its distribution centers. But the twist is much more sinister. At the same time that it announces that the activity of the mentioned stores is ceasing, it informs that it plans to open 12 new food stores without employees . Logical, the machines do not require family reconciliation, they do not suffer the fluctuations of inflation and they do not charge overtime.

Amazon grows at a rate never seen in the commerce sector, but it devastates traditional commerce with this type of unfair practices. Until artificial intelligence replaces its executives, no one will take action on the matter. And then it will be too late.