With the retail giant’s ongoing campaigns at three locations, Amazon employees are leaving jobs in desperation and agitating for union representation. Now, TikTok workers are joining the fight.
Dozens of content creators on the video platform are prompting fellow influencers to blacklist the e-commerce company to emphasize higher wages and working conditions for warehouse workers. As part of their campaign, they are targeting Amazon’s influencer marketing program, which is encouraging people to sell on TikTok to break their ties with the company.
“You have an audience, you have people who click through to your little Amazon storefront, from which you make a commission. Is it worth it at the expense of working class people?” TikTok Gaya said in a video on Wednesday.
According to Gen-Z for Change, the “People over Prime” campaign began Tuesday with about 70 participants, who count 51 million followers on TikTok, the non-profit group leading the effort.
Manufacturers are demanding a $30 minimum wage in Amazon’s warehouses, no more productivity quotas and a halt to Amazon’s anti-union efforts. According to a complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board, the company has strongly resisted pressure from employees to form a union, which requires employees to attend anti-union meetings, and less so for those who vote for the union. Salaries and benefits are threatened.
“There are a lot of people on the Internet, especially young people, who have no idea the impact of shopping on Amazon, on workers, on the environment,” said 19-year-old TikToker Dylan Trosken. “It scares me how big they are and how powerful a corporation can be.”
Warehouse workers and workers’ rights groups have long complained of high injury rates, constant surveillance and aggressive anti-union efforts at Amazon.
The company has said that its pay, which starts at $17 an hour, is industry-leading, and its injury rate is not as high as it appears. When asked about the TikTok campaign, Amazon spokesman Paul Flanningen issued the following statement:
“We have invested billions of dollars in new operational security measures, technologies, and other innovative solutions to protect our employees. We have expanded our global workplace health and safety team to the more than 8,000 employees worldwide who work with Amazon. Innovation, technology and data to make sure we’re keeping our employees safe. We’re committed to giving our employees the resources they need to be successful, with regular breaks and a comfortable pace of work Making the time, and working directly with anyone who needs extra help to meet their needs. Goals.”
Amazon also said it conducts “thousands” of safety inspections each day at its facilities, making changes based on worker feedback, as well as consulting with health and safety experts.
Aiming to do dollar marketing
TikTok’s novel campaign is targeting Amazon’s influencer marketing program, which the e-commerce company is trying to expand.
Through the program, popular social media accounts can earn commissions ranging from 1% to 20% on Amazon products they recommend. In May, Amazon hosted more than a dozen influencers in a weekend getaway in Mexico, where stars were wine and dine and taught how to set up a storefront on stage. According to Insider Intelligence, Amazon also enlisted more than 5,000 influencers to uncover products ahead of its Prime Day sale.
According to a report by Influencer Marketing Hub, influencer marketing is a growing field in itself, with companies expected to sell $960 billion worth of products through social platforms.
While Instagram creators draw the most marketing dollars, TikTok boasts of the youngest audience. The website is the second most popular site in the world according to Cloudflare.
Alice Joshi, director of strategy at Gen-Z for Change, said, “Amazon knows the power creators have, and for the past year they’ve been trying to latch onto TikTok as it’s a gateway and a gateway for young people. The gateway to labor.” , told CBS Moneywatch.
Joshi, 20, said she was inspired to launch the campaign when the U.S. to form an Amazon distribution center consortium on Staten Island. Became the first Amazon feature in the U.S. The two groups did not coordinate on the campaign, but Chris Smalls, the head of the Amazon labor union, told the Washington Post that he supports the TikTok effort.
“It’s a good fight because Amazon is definitely afraid of how we used TikTok during our campaigns,” Smalls told the Post.
The Amazon campaign was several months in the making, said Joshi, who has also helped Kroger and Starbucks run targeted campaigns. (When those companies were accused of retaliating against organized workers, Gen-Z for Chain