Hundreds Expected to Participate in Wayfair Walkout Over Business With Migrant Detention Camps
Channel: the free Bird Roch
Date: 2019-06-26

More than 500 Wayfair employees signed a petition demanding the Boston-based company cease sales with government contractors who work with migrant detention centers

Hundreds of Wayfair employees are expected to walk off the job Wednesday to protest the online retailer's decision to furnish a detention camp for migrant children at the U.S.-Mexico border.

The workers are expected to walk out from their Boston headquarters at 1:30 p.m. and head to Copley Square, about a seven-minute walk away. Organizers are calling on employees who are based in the headquarters and remote workers to participate in the protest.

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More than 500 employees signed a petition demanding the Boston-based e-commerce company cease all current and any future sales with contractors who work with detention camps. The petition directly addresses Wayfair co-founders Steve Conine and Niraj Shah.

CNBC reports organizers for the protest claim the company made $86,000 in profits made by selling mattresses for the detention camp. An anonymous employee told The Boston Globe that a $200,000 order was made on June 13 by Baptist Children's Family Services, a charity group that works as a government contractor that manages some of the centers.

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The controversy was followed by the company's stock dropping by 5.3% Tuesday. Employees are demanding those proceeds be donated to RAICES, a non-profit agency that offers low-cost legal services to undocumented immigrants.

Politicians including 2020 contenders Elizabeth Warren and Bernie Sanders, U.S. Rep. Ayanna Pressley and U.S. Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez took to Twitter to voice their support for the walkout.

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DoneGood, a Cambridge-based online retailer, also voiced its support for the walkout and vowed to donate 100% of the revenue they make Wednesday to Raices.

Wayfair did not return repeated requests for comment Tuesday, according to CNBC.