Make Amazon Pay
The global campaign "Make Amazon Pay", an initiative of a coalition of more than 50 organisations, was launched on Black Friday and includes such requirements of the e-commerce giant Amazon (NASDAQ:AMZN) as improved working conditions and full tax transparency.
The campaign has already been supported by more than 400 legislators from 34 countries who have signed the letter addressed to the firm's management, Reuters reports.
The letter, which has been signed by many parliamentarians from the US and EU, calls on the head of Amazon, Jeff Bezos, to "act decisively to change their policies and priorities and do the right thing for their employees, society and the planet".
The main objective of the campaign, as its name makes clear, is to make Amazon pay all the taxes it does not pay, citing low profits due to high retail competition, low margins and large investments.
However, Bezos listened to the letter, but only half of it. On Thursday, Bezos said: "I agree to the revision of Amazon's policy".He also said that many of the issues raised in the letter were based on misleading statements.
"Amazon has extensive experience in supporting its employees, customers and communities, including ensuring a safe working environment, competitive wages and greater benefits. The company pays taxes of billions of dollars worldwide and is committed to achieving zero carbon emissions by 2040", said Amazon in a statement.
Whatever Bezos says, the fact remains that Amazon made huge profits during the pandemic and sales rose sharply due to the closure of conventional quarantine shops.
Governments around the world are considering stricter rules for large technical companies.
The European Union, for example, last month accused Amazon of damaging retail competition, claiming that the company used its size, capacity and customer data to gain an unfair advantage over smaller traders who sell their goods on its online platform.
Amazon disagreed with the EU claims, saying that the company accounts for less than 1 per cent of the global retail market and that each country in which it operates has larger retailers.
