Anti Amazon protest in NYC.
Photo: Ruth E. Hernández / EFE
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A group of immigrants, including essential workers, marched yesterday to the building where Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has a luxury residence, on the famous 5th Avenue in Manhattan (NYC).
They accused Bezos of profiting from their efforts, and demanded that the state legislature pass a package of measures, including a tax “on the richest” to create a $ 3.5 billion fund for those excluded from the federal government’s economic stimulus.
Among the proposals they are seeking to be included in the next state budget, which must be approved before April 1, is the “Hero Law”, that would ensure workers are provided with personal protective equipment, social distancing, disinfection, and engineering controls at their employment centers.
Armed with saucepans and signs with messages like “We want equality, we are also human ”,“ I am a domestic worker, my work cannot be done by zoom ” o “We also count, help for undocumented workers”, the protesters walked several streets from a church in Lower Manhattan where about twenty of them stayed overnight after declaring in hunger strike in support of your claims.
In front of the home of billionaire Bezos they kept a minute of silence for those killed by Covid-19 in New York, and placed candles and flowers in front of the building’s entrance, as well as loose sheets with a sequence of dates that showed how the victims of the disease in the state were increasing.
During the rise of the pandemic, Amazon workers, with support from organizations such as “Make the Road New York” (Make the Road NY), They denounced the alleged lack of preventive measures to protect them, which led to the dismissal of an employee, who later sued the company.
The “Hero Law”, which has already been approved by the NY State Senate and goes to the Assembly next week, would prevent situations like that from happening again. The state of California has already approved aid for undocumented immigrants impacted by the pandemic, the agency said. EFE.
Immigrants spend the night in a Manhattan Episcopal church and they will maintain the campaign until April 1, when, by constitutional mandate, the budget must already be approved.
In February of this year the NY Attorney General sues Amazon for negligence in protecting its workers and in retaliating against those who expressed concern. Days before, the company had already sued the New York government “in anticipation” of possible legal action.
Previously, in December 2020 dozens of activists also demonstrated in front of Bezos’s luxurious apartment on 5th Avenue to protest against supposed Amazon’s monopoly and labor practices, which have reportedly increased the mogul’s fortune while small businesses have been forced to close by the pandemic.
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