Category Archives: Amazon

Billionaire MacKenzie Scott donates $15m to help provide glasses to farmers in developing countries

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Donation is believed to be the largest single donation towards helping solve the problem of uncorrected blurry vision

MacKenzie Scott, the billionaire philanthropist and former wife of the Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, has donated $15m (£13.5m) to a social enterprise that helps provide glasses to farmers in developing countries.

Scott’s donation to VisionSpring is believed to be the largest single private donation towards helping solve the problem of uncorrected blurry vision which leaves hundreds of millions of people in poverty.

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France sets minimum book delivery fee in anti-Amazon struggle

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€3 charge aims to gives independent booksellers a chance against e-commerce firms that use free delivery loophole

France’s crusade to protect independent booksellers against huge online retailers was stepped up on Friday as the government proposed a €3 (£2.66) minimum delivery fee for all online book orders of less than €35.

The government’s fixed fee for online deliveries is part of a quest to support independent bookshops against the domination of big tech firms, such as Amazon.

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California accuses Amazon of stifling competition in new major lawsuit

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The case mirrors a District of Columbia complaint alleging the company pushes sellers to maintain higher prices on other sites

California is suing Amazon, accusing the company of violating the state’s antitrust laws by stifling competition and engaging in practices that push sellers to maintain higher prices on products on other sites.

The 84-page lawsuit filed on Wednesday in San Francisco superior court mirrors another complaint filed last year by the District of Columbia, which was dismissed by a district judge earlier this year and is now going through an appeals process.

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Starbucks and Amazon accused of dragging their feet on union contracts

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After successful unionization drives, experts say companies will ‘fight to the end’ to prevent the next step

Over the past year, workers at Starbucks, Amazon, Trader Joe’s and Apple have all achieved historic, hard-won union victories, but now many of these newly unionized workers fear they might face an even bigger challenge: negotiating a first union contract.

Exhibit A for that challenge is the slow pace of progress at Starbucks. Unions have won elections at more than 220 stores. Many baristas are upset that Starbucks has begun negotiations with workers at only three of them.

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‘A sweatshop in the UK’: how the cost of living crisis triggered walkouts at Amazon

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Inside the protests taking place at the online giant which is accused of exploiting workers and awarding derisory pay offers

Amazon workers say they are working in a “sweatshop” as safety concerns and worries about the cost of living crisis have triggered walkouts at warehouses around the country.

The Observer has spoken to four staff involved in the walkouts, who work at three Amazon warehouses, including Tilbury in Essex, where protests began on 4 August. All say they will struggle to survive this winter with pay rise offers between 35p and 50p an hour – far less than the rate of inflation, which is currently at 13%.

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Amazon UK to charge £1 more a month for Prime service from September

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Monthly subscription to increase by 12.5% to £8.99 in latest sign of rising delivery costs

Amazon is to increase the price of its monthly Prime subscription service by 12.5% – or £1 – to £8.99 from September in the latest sign that delivery costs are rising.

The company said the cost of an annual Prime package, which includes unlimited deliveries for online shopping, access to its video and music streaming services and its Amazon Fresh grocery deliveries, would rise by more – 20%, or £16 – to £95, although this remains a discount on the monthly option.

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Amazon buys US medical provider as it cements move into healthcare

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One Medical, the primary care organization, will be acquired by the e-commerce behemoth in a deal valued at roughly $3.9bn

Amazon will acquire the primary care organization One Medical in a deal valued roughly at $3.9bn, marking another expansion for the retailer into healthcare services.

The Seattle-based e-commerce giant said in a statement Thursday it is buying One Medical for $18 a share in an all-cash transaction. It’s one of Amazon’s biggest acquisitions, following its $13.7bn deal to buy Whole Foods in 2017 and its $8.5bn purchase of Hollywood studio MGM, which closed earlier this year.

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Amazon to create more than 4,000 jobs in UK

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US company says recruitment drive will take permanent workforce in Britain to 75,000

Amazon is creating more than 4,000 permanent jobs across the UK this year, the online company has announced.

The US firm said the recruitment drive would bring its permanent workforce in the UK to 75,000, having created 40,000 new jobs in the past three years.

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Amazon gave Ring doorbell videos to US police 11 times without permission

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The company has said it will not share customer information with law enforcement without consent, a warrant or in an emergency

Amazon has provided Ring doorbell footage to law enforcement 11 times this year without the user’s permission, despite previously stating it would do so only with consent.

The disclosure came in a letter from the company that was made public Wednesday by Senator Edward Markey and is bound to raise more privacy and civil liberty concerns about its video-sharing agreements with police departments across the US.

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UK watchdog opens investigation into Amazon’s marketplace practices

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CMA looks into whether firm gives own sellers unfair advantage over third-party rivals

The UK competition watchdog has launched an investigation into whether Amazon has been giving its own brands and those using its logistics services unfair advantage over third-party rivals on its online marketplace.

The Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) said it opened an investigation on Tuesday amid concerns the US tech corporation’s practices on its UK marketplace may be anti-competitive and could result in a worse deal for customers.

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Amazon shareholders reject 15 motions on worker rights and environment

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Resolutions included calls for company to report on health and safety and review use of plastic

Amazon shareholders have rejected 15 resolutions brought forward by investors in a push to influence the company’s environmental impact and treatment of workers.

Shareholders voted on Wednesday against all the resolutions, most of which focused on worker rights and other social issues. The resolutions included calls for the company to report on worker health and safety and the treatment of its warehouse workers, and a review of Amazon’s use of plastic and changes to the company’s process for board nominations.

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Amazon bags £425m in work from UK government as it is criticised over tax

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Report claims public money from countries around the world is funding growth of tech company

Amazon has reaped a total of £425m in UK government contracts in the past two years, it has emerged in a report, prompting fresh criticism that the tech giant is failing to pay a fair share of tax in the country.

The report, by the Centre for International Corporate Tax Accountability and Research (CICTAR) with assistance from investigative thinktank Taxwatch, finds Amazon’s highly profitable cloud computing business is increasingly being indirectly supported by taxpayers through hundreds of billions of dollars in government contracts around the world.

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‘History repeating’: Amazon base in Cape Town splits Indigenous groups

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Building work is quiet, for now, on £200m project that pits different visions of South Africa’s future against one another

Smoke curls into the air, a drum beats, the dance begins, a chant is raised. Ten metres away, cars howl past on a busy road, drivers unaware of the sacred ritual taking place in the centre of a bustling South African city.

Francisco Mackenzie, a chief of the Cochoqua community of the Khoi people, talks of ancient beliefs and battles five centuries ago, against invaders from overseas. He points to the iconic skyline of Table Mountain, and then to a nearby building site.

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Amazon reportedly fires at least six New York managers involved in labor union

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According to the New York Times, the dismissals are regarded as the company’s response to the recent unionization victory

Amazon has reportedly fired over half a dozen senior managers who were involved in a New York warehouse union.

The firings, which took place outside the company’s employee review cycle, was regarded as the company’s response to the Amazon Labor Union which formed in Staten Island last month in a “historic victory” against the country’s second largest employer, the New York Times reported, citing former and current employees who spoke on the condition anonymity.

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Amazon labor organizers push for second union victory in New York

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About 1,500 eligible workers at LDJ5 sorting center on Staten Island vote in union ballot, after recent success at JFK8 warehouse

Amazon workers in New York will go to the polls again as labor activists push to unionize a second facility in the US following their surprise recent victory over the tech giant.

About 1,500 eligible workers at an LDJ5 Amazon sorting center in Staten Island, New York, begin voting in a union election on Monday, in a process that will continue through 29 April. Ballot-counting starts on 2 May.

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Amazon to ban ‘union’ and other words from staff chat app

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Planned social media app would also prevent workers from using terms such as ‘fire’, ‘slave labor’, ‘diversity’ and ‘injustice’

Amazon reportedly plans to block the word “union” and other related keywords from an internal messaging app the company is developing for workers.

The list of banned words includes “union”, “fire”, “compensation”, “plantation”, “slave labor”, “diversity”, “robots”, “grievance” and “injustice”, among others, according to leaked internal messages seen by the Intercept. The news came days after Amazon workers in New York made history by voting to form a union, the first successful US organizing effort in the company’s history.

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Union chief vows to pressure Amazon after historic New York vote

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Teamsters’ Sean O’Brien says the e-commerce company has ‘total disrespect’ for its workers

The Teamsters’ new president has pledged his powerful union will step up the pressure on Amazon and mount its own efforts to unionize the company after workers in New York voted to form the company’s first US union.

In an interview with the Guardian Sean O’Brien said it was vital to organize Amazon, asserting that the e-commerce company has “total disrespect” for its workers and was putting downward pressure on standards for unionized warehouse workers and truck drivers across the US.

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Amazon workers in New York close to forming historic union after key vote

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Elsewhere, a unionization vote by Alabama workers is pending as hundreds of votes were challenged

Amazon workers in New York are close to voting to form a union – a major win for labor activists who have failed in previous efforts to organize at the tech giant that is now the second largest private employer in the US.

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island will find out on Friday whether or not they want to form a union, Amazon’s first in the US where it now employs over one million people.

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‘The history of fantasy is racialized’: Lord of the Rings series sparks debate over race

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Introduction of characters of color into Tolkien’s fantasy world has some fans complaining but as others point out, it’s not less authentic to cast Black actors

As the new Lord of the Rings series gears up for its September launch on Amazon, the company finds itself navigating treacherous, if familiar, waters and has already triggered a fierce debate over race by introducing characters of color into JRR Tolkien’s fantasy world.

The tech giant has spent a dragon’s dungeon of gold on adapting the beloved story famous for its cultish fans, some of whom are deeply enmeshed in the rightwing culture war industry. Yet it is fully aware its final product has to reach a broad and modern audience to justify its eye-popping expenditure.

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Alexa whistleblower demands Amazon apology after being jailed and tortured

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Tang Mingfang is willing to risk reprisals to clear his name over Foxconn revelations – and to get backing from Jeff Bezos

A whistleblower who exposed illegal working conditions in a factory making Amazon’s Alexa devices says he was tortured before being jailed by Chinese authorities.

Tang Mingfang, 43, was jailed after he revealed how the Foxconn factory in the southern Chinese city of Hengyang used schoolchildren working illegally long hours to manufacture Amazon’s popular Echo, Echo Dot and Kindle devices.

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