Business & Tech

Amazon Boycott Joined by Nearly 13,000

Advocacy group says the boycott was prompted by sweatshop conditions at Amazon's Breinigsville facility.

A boycott of Seattle-based retailer Amazon.com due to was joined by nearly 13,000 people, according to the Morning Call.

The Washington, D.C.-based union advocacy group American Rights at Work said 12,600 people boycotted the national online retailer this holiday season, due to what they called sweatshop conditions at its Breinigsville fulfillment center.

Earlier this year, Amazon responded to at its fulfillment center, stating  that it spent $2.4 million to "urgently" install industrial air conditioning during the summer even though “air conditioning remains an unusual practice in warehouses.”

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The most recent Morning Call report notes that reports of unsafe working conditions were not limited to the summer. Overnight employees were said to have been exposed to cold temperatures and treated for exposurs after evacuations, according to the Call's report.

Also earlier this year, Amazon , stating "it's safer to work in the Amazon fulfillment network than in a department store.”

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