Amazon employees want more done to address racial inequalities at work
While Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos encouraged his staff last Friday to cancel all meetings in observation of Juneteenth, and has strongly voiced his support of the Black Lives Matter movement in various avenues, some Amazon employees feel that the company needs to work harder to address systemic racism, including diversifying management ranks, increasing pay for rank-and-file workers to decrease poverty, and addressing hostile work environments. Amazon has more black employees than any other large retailer - more than 25% of its 500,000+ workforce - slightly more than Walmart, and much more than Facebook. Most of them are in hourly jobs, and Bezo's management team does not have any black managers. Earlier this week, Microsoft said it would spend $150 million on diversity efforts and planned to double the number of black managers and senior employees by 2025. A group of employees are proposing that Amazon should permit a third-party audit of bias, release detailed figures on race and promotions, and establish goals for diversity in management and leadership roles.
See "Amazon employees want more done to address racial inequalities at work", Karen Weise, New York Times, June 24, 2020