In September, U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders invited ILSR’s Stacy Mitchell to script and narrate two videos about Amazon for his social media channels. Since being released, these videos have drawn more than 1.8 million views across several platforms.
In the first, Stacy explains how Amazon got to be so powerful, and how the problem with the company is far deeper than its wages alone. The larger issue is Amazon’s unrivaled monopoly power. As Amazon swallows up and crushes its rivals across the economy, there are fewer companies creating jobs and hiring workers in its wake. To take on Amazon, therefore, we must do more than demand better wages for its workers, Stacy says. We must confront Amazon’s power directly.
In the second, Stacy talks about the environment inside an Amazon warehouse. Workers are surrounded by state-of-the-art robots and machinery, and yet the conditions of their labor are more of a throwback to the 19th century. Though Amazon likes to tout itself as a job creator, the company’s tightening grip on the economy is eliminating opportunities for working families.
For more on how Amazon is growing its market and political power at the expense of communities and working people, explore our resource page on Amazon.
Here, you will find our cover story for The Nation and widely cited, in-depth reports Amazon’s Next Frontier: Your City’s Purchasing and Amazon’s Stranglehold, among other original research and reporting about the company.
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