Monday 9 March 2020

Black friday - strategy of low prices


Because "  Black Friday is one of the vectors of the strategy of low prices and sales at a loss which has enabled Amazon to become the first distributor of textiles and electronics in France ", they denounce. 

First point: the working conditions as untenable as they are unacceptable to which the giant subjects its employers. The signatories point the finger at the strategy, named "day one", adopted by the firm, which consists in maximizing the rate of preparation of orders and forcing its deliverers to an endless race, and dehumanized.
 
It is estimated that for one job created by the firm of Jeff Bezos, two jobs are destroyed in the commercial sector. Amazon employees, many of whom are temporary workers, carry out tasks timed by the algorithms of their scanners. In its new warehouses, they become auxiliaries to 100,000 order preparation robots. And, soon, the deliverymen, already numerous to be uberized, could be replaced by drones. 

In addition to representing a threat on the job market and contributing to the disintegration of the social bond, the economic system on which Amazon rests, can only be good, according to them, to increase disparities. They indeed recall the practice of tax diversion which the multinational shamelessly engages in.

But the disaster does not stop there. As the text points out, the damage caused by the vast e-commerce business has repercussions not only on society, but also on the planet. A system which, in short, poses serious problems both on an ethical and ecological level:
 
 Its low prices and its daily promotions lead to overconsumption and contribute to the increase in CO2 emissions by increasing the extraction of resources, transport by boat, plane or truck. Amazon Web Services (AWS) is also the world leader in the cloud and its data centers generated as many greenhouse gases as Portugal in 2018. AWS provides its services to Palantir, a sulfur company that helps Donald Trump identify and arrest migrants illegally crossing the border. 

With this call to end the massacre to which Amazon's practices would lead, the signatories invite everyone, including on social networks with #VendrediNoirpourAmonon, to mobilize in order to "  no longer let Amazon sweep of social and environmental rights out of hand  ”.

A mobilization that enjoins taking its own responsibilities as a consumer and a citizen.