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GLOBAL online retail giant Amazon has threatened to fire employees for speaking out on environmental issues, A US-based workers’ campaign group has revealed.
Amazon Employees for Climate Justice (AECJ) said that workers were told on Thursday that they were in violation of company policy after they joined calls for it to do more to tackle climate change.
In a statement, the environmental group said some employees had been contacted by Amazon’s legal and human-resources teams and questioned about their public comments.
The statement read: “Some workers then received follow-up emails threatening termination if they continue to speak about Amazon's business.”
AECJ is a group of the company’s workers “who believe it’s our responsibility to ensure our business models don’t contribute to the climate crisis.”
Justin Campbell, an Amazon data engineer, said: “Amazon’s policy is not going to stop the momentum tech workers have built over the past year.
“The climate crisis is the greatest challenge we face and the only way we can find solutions is by protecting people’s rights to speak freely and disrupting the status quo.”
The group has called on Amazon to achieve zero emissions by 2030, limit its work with fossil fuel companies and stop funding politicians and lobbyists who deny the existence of climate change.
Amazon argued that its policy on employees making public comments is not new and covers all of its workers, but AECJ claim the company updated its policy after workers organised a walkout from their workplaces to join the Global Climate Strike in September.
The updated policy requires employees to seek approval before speaking out on any public platform.