A crowd of demonstrators marched on Amazon
"Tax Bezos" echoed through Beverly Hills on Sunday after a crowd of protestors marched on Bezos' mansion. The march began in a park nearby and took the group through the affluent neighborhood right to Bezos' mansion's gates. At the head of the crowd was Chris Smalls, a former Amazon warehouse manager who claims he was fired in March after stopping work in his warehouse due to the Coronavirus pandemic's onset. Smalls was joined by fellow former Amazon workers and a slew of activists.
"Cancel your Prime, stand in solidarity with the workers," said Smalls during the protest. "You don't need Jeff Bezos. He needs us. We made him the richest man in the world."
Smalls has become a key figure in anti-Amazon protests for his activist efforts, even when he still worked at Amazon. Smalls dismissal in March from Amazon's Staten Island facility was claimed by Amazon due to Smalls violating a quarantine order. However, this was cast in doubt after VICE obtained a memo that detailed Amazon's attempts to place Smalls as the forefront of its plans to negate bad press, calling him "not smart or articulate."
Efforts to negate bad press have done little to dissuade the COEW, however. The group has continually advocated for living wages, job security, paid sick leave, healthcare, and PPE for workers, among other things. While there appeared to be no future events on the group's website at the time of writing, it is likely that protests against Amazon will continue, given mounting concerns about employee wellbeing as the company works overtime to keep pace with monumental demand during the pandemic.
- https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-04/amazon-jeff-bezos-protest-beverly-hills
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/jgxwkg/amazon-workers-went-to-jeff-bezos-dollar165-million-mansion-to-ask-for-a-dollar2-raise
- https://ktla.com/news/local-news/protests-outside-jeff-bezos-beverly-hills-mansion-demand-better-working-conditions-higher-wages/
- https://www.cbsnews.com/news/amazon-workers-protest-jeff-bezos-house/
- https://tcoew.org/about/
- https://www.vice.com/en/article/5dm8bx/leaked-amazon-memo-details-plan-to-smear-fired-warehouse-organizer-hes-not-smart-or-articulate