Amazon workers march to Jeff Bezos' mansion, calling for higher wages, protections

[Celerity]

https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2020-10-04/amazon-jeff-bezos-protest-beverly-hills



Demonstrators on Sunday marched to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’ Beverly Hills mansion, protesting company working conditions during the COVID-19 crisis and calling for higher wages, free healthcare and child care for employees. Protesters rallied at Will Rogers Memorial Park in Beverly Hills, then marched to the gates of Bezos’ home, carrying signs and chanting “Tax Bezos.”

The demonstration was sponsored by the Congress of Essential Workers, a collective of servers, teachers and warehouse employees, and led by the group’s founder, Chris Smalls, a former Amazon warehouse manager who said he was fired in March after organizing a work stoppage over the company’s handling of the COVID-19 pandemic.

“You don’t need Jeff Bezos. He needs us,” he said through a bullhorn during the protest. Organizers released a list of demands, including that the company provide workers with adequate protective equipment and cleaning supplies, as well as an increase of $2 per hour for hazard pay.

Amazon revealed last week, after months of pressure from workers and labor groups, that nearly 20,000 of its frontline U.S. workers have tested positive or been presumed positive for the coronavirus. But the online retail giant says the infection rate of its employees is well below that seen in the general U.S. population.

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[Hekate]

1. These folks desperately need a union, and I hope they get one

Best of luck!

[greyl]

2. Not a stretch to make comparisons with other fallen empires. nt

[BigmanPigman]

3. I just read that Bezos's ex wife is the world's richest woman

and since her divorce she has been giving piles of money to charities and she is so into philanthropy that she wants to give all her money away before she dies. She and Jeff are like night and day.

[Celerity]

4. MacKenzie Scott, ex-wife of Jeff Bezos, is now world's richest woman

https://www.wraltechwire.com/2020/09/03/mackenzie-scott-ex-wife-of-jeff-bezos-is-now-worlds-richest-woman/

MacKenzie Scott — philanthropist, author and ex-wife of Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos — is now the wealthiest woman in the world. Scott’s net worth is now $68 billion, propelling her past L’Oréal heiress Francoise Bettencourt Meyers, according to Bloomberg’s Billionaire index. Scott received a quarter of Bezos’ Amazon shares in the couple’s divorce settlement in 2019. That equated to a 4% stake that was worth more than $35 billion at the time. She is now the 12th wealthiest person in the world.

In July, Scott announced that she had already donated nearly $1.7 billion to 116 organizations that included four historically Black colleges and universities. She described the organizations as focusing on one of nine “areas of need” ranging from racial equity to climate change. Last year, Scott also signed onto the Giving Pledge initiative, founded by Warren Buffet and Bill and Melinda Gates. The initiative encourages the world’s richest people to dedicate a majority of their wealth to charitable causes.

Bezos, the world’s richest man, hasn’t signed the pledge, according to a list of signatories.

Amazon’s stock jumped roughly 28% over the last three months, and is up more than 90% so far this year, according to data from Refinitiv. The soar in shares increased the wealth of Bezos to over $200 billion. Scott’s bump up in wealth follows a surge in tech stock gains, which has led to other billionaire ranking shake ups at the top. Earlier this week, Elon Musk surpassed Mark Zuckerberg to become the third richest person in the world. Tesla saw a 12% stock gain after Tesla’s 5-1 stock split on Monday.

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