Ex-Amazon exec calls for breakup of Amazon

Carolyn Adolph

June 05, 2020 / 7:43 am

caption: Amazon's spheres are shown on Monday, January 29, 2018, during the spheres grand opening in Seattle.

A former Amazon executive is calling for the regulation and breakup of Amazon. Tim Bray is a former Amazon executive who quit last month over the treatment of warehouse workers.

Bray says the problem of corporate power isn’t just about Amazon.

“Amazon is a symptom of the problem. It’s an imbalance of wealth, of power, across the macro- economic structure that’s the problem.”

And to correct that, he says, maybe Amazon needs to be broken up.

“It’s not obvious to me why the retail company, the manufacturing company, the voice recognition company, the cloud computing company and the Prime video company should be the same company. They’re not particularly related to each other. And I think it’s actively distorting and harmful.” Tim Bray

Bray says the combined power of Amazon’s many businesses help the company dominate markets, including the labor market. Amazon said it had no comment on Bray's remarks.

At issue is Amazon’s treatment of warehouse workers who are on the front line in the pandemic but have less protection and pay than many other workers. Bray quit Amazon earlier this spring, citing the company's handling of internal dissent about conditions inside the warehouses. In a blog post, he said there was a "vein of toxicity running through the company culture."

A handful of workers at warehouse JFK8 on Staten Island sued Amazon this week over working conditions there.

In a statement, Amazon said "since May 1 we have offered leave for those most vulnerable or who need to care for children or family members. We also invested $4 billion from April to June on COVID-related initiatives." The company also said its assistance to workers " includes two weeks paid leave for any COVID diagnosis or quarantine, and launching a $25 million fund to support our partners and contractors.”

The suit says 44 workers have tested positive for COVID-19 at the warehouse. Workers are asking the company to comply with public health guidance to prevent further harm.

Last week Amazon founder Jeff Bezos said warehouse workers are a top priority: “Keeping our employees safe there is nothing more important than that. And I’m proud of the job the team has done there. We’ve taken this seriously from the very beginning.”

Bray is based in Vancouver, British Columbia. He made the remarks during an online forum held by National Observer, a Canadian media outlet.

This story has been updated to include Amazon's response.