Amazon is going on the offensive against prominent lawmakers amid the most significant union campaign in the history of the online retailer. Amazon’s official PR account on Twitter, @amazonnews, on Friday criticized Senators Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for their constant criticism of the e-commerce company.
“There is a big difference between conversation and action,” tweeted Amazon. “@SenSanders has been a powerful politician in Vermont for 30 years and his minimum wage is still $ 11.75. Amazon’s is $ 15, plus an excellent health care system from day one. Sanders prefers to speak in Alabama than acting in Vermont. “
Amazon also retweeted a comment from Dave Clark, the company’s global consumer CEO, who said Sanders “should spare his finger-wagging sermon until he actually makes the offer in his own backyard.”
Sanders, a congressional independent who is allied with Democrats, was in Bessemer, Alabama, on Friday to support Amazon workers who are fighting for the right to join a union. Factory employees are now casting their votes in the postal election, with voting ending March 29.
At the rally, Sanders addressed directly to Amazon founder Jeff Bezos, accusing the richest man in the world of not having contact with his workers.
“Why, when you have so much money – more money than can be spent in a million lives – why are you spending millions trying to defeat an effort on the part of the workers here who want nothing more than decent wages, decent benefits, work decent conditions? “Sanders said.
Amazon on Friday also became involved with Senator Elizabeth Warren, a Massachusetts Democrat who earlier this week accused the company of exploiting tax loopholes.
Amazon countered, “You make tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them. If you don’t like the laws you’ve created, change them by all means. ”
Warren replied, “I didn’t write the loopholes you exploit – your armies of lawyers and lobbyists did.” She added, “You can bet I’ll fight to get you to pay your share. And fight your union bust. And fight to separate Big Tech so you’re not powerful enough to bother senators with arrogant tweets.”
Amazon responded by characterizing Warren’s comments as a personal attack on the company. “This is extraordinary and revealing. One of the most powerful politicians in the United States has just said that he is going to break an American company so that they can no longer criticize it.”
Amazon told federal regulators that it paid $ 1.8 billion in federal taxes in 2020 – that’s 15 times the tax it paid in the previous two years and about 8% of the $ 22 billion profit the company recorded for the year past.
The company is also fighting with members of Congress. Mark Pocan, who represents Wisconsin’s second district, tweeted on Amazon this week that a $ 15 salary alone did not make it a good place to work “when you break the union and make workers urinate in water bottles” .
Pocan was referring to widely circulated reports from Amazon drivers and warehouse workers who had so little time for breaks that they were forced to carry out their needs in empty bottles or in public.
Amazon denied the accusation: “You really don’t believe in this thing of peeing in bottles, do you? If that were true, no one would work for us,” tweeted the company.
Twitter users responded with news of Amazon workers complaining about inhumane working conditions. Even Representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez gave her opinion. The New York City member tweeted a screenshot of an email in which an Amazon manager complained about “urine bottles” left inside delivery vans.