Whole Foods employees want Amazon to sever ties with ICE
Amazon is under fire once again. On Monday, employees from Whole Foods (which Amazon purchased in 2017) issued a statement expressing their displeasure with their parent company's ties to ICE.
The group behind the letter is called Whole Worker and is comprised of both current and former employees.
The statement demands that Amazon cut ties to the technology company Palantir, and any other company that oppresses marginalized groups. Amazon does not directly work with ICE, but does provide web services technology to Palantir, which provides ICE with software.
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"Palantir provides software that helps ICE in the deportation of undocumented people. Undocumented people must be welcomed with compassion and treated like the political and economic asylum seekers they are," the statement explains.
The group also takes issue with Amazon's facial recognition software, Rekognition, which a recent ACLU study found to be racially biased. Amazon sold to Rekognition to law enforcement and also attempted to sell it to ICE last year.
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In the letter, the group calls on its collective power writing, "We recognize that expecting a company built on the exploitation of marginalized people and the working class to cease its collaboration with ICE's deportation machine by way of moral condemnations isn’t enough ... Workers that control the levers inside Amazon must make this machine stop and turn in another direction."
Mashable has reached out to Amazon for comment and will update the article if we hear back.
UPDATE: Aug. 15, 2019, 10:24 a.m. EDT Whole Worker elaborated on their letter in an email to Mashable.
Whole Worker explained it's "becoming increasingly evident that it may not matter how much light is shined on Amazon’s oppressive practices. That’s why our statement is more than just a statement. It’s a call for workers everywhere to begin taking direct action against the inhumane business deals and practices of their employers. It’s also a call for workers to recognize that 'it’s just business' is nothing but the private sector version of 'just following orders.' Disobey orders and refuse to do business."
Topics Activism Amazon Social Good
Siobhan was the Social Good reporter at Mashable, writing about everything from mental health to race to the climate crisis. Before diving into the world of journalism, she worked in global health — most notably, as a Peace Corps volunteer in Mozambique. Find her at @siobhanneela.
