Local workers’ groups, investors push back against Amazon

By Katie Johnston, May 25, 2021

As Amazon prepares to hold its annual shareholders’ meeting on Wednesday, following a year of record profits during a global health crisis and a time of racial justice reckoning, the company is facing a major pushback from investors and workers’ advocacy groups, especially in Massachusetts.

Earlier this week, activists organized by the Amazon watchdog coalition Athena marched to the offices of major corporate shareholders in six cities, including Fidelity Investments and State Street Corp. in Boston, urging them to approve proposals including disclosing anticompetitive strategy risks, reducing its use of plastic packaging, and determining if the company’s surveillance and facial recognition technologies — used by police and pitched to Immigration and Customs Enforcement — violate human rights, including perpetuating systemic racism. At least four of the 11 shareholder resolutions being voted on are sponsored by Boston-based groups, including the antipoverty nonprofit Oxfam America, which is recommending that Amazon add an hourly employee to its board of directors.

Click here to read the full article.