Amazon Living Wage campaigners place dummy book on site as protest

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2014/jun/11/amazon-living-wage-campaigners-dummy-book-protest

Version 0 of 1.

Campaigners who have been calling on Amazon to "end poverty pay" for months have brought their battle directly to the internet retailer's front doorstep with the launch of a "book" on Amazon's own website slamming the way it treats its workers.

The title, A Living Wage for All Amazon Workers, says in its Amazon product description: "Over 62,000 people have called on Amazon to end poverty pay in 2014 – but Amazon has yet to take our demand seriously so we've brought it direct to Amazon.co.uk", asking readers to "review this product below and let Amazon know that it's time to pay the human cost of its operations".

At the time of writing, it had drawn more than 100 reviews, and rising. "Initially I thought this book was non-fiction; imagine a global corporation taking care of their employees! That sounds like something from a horror story," wrote one reviewer.

Another had it that "of all the innovative products that can be found on Amazon, this is the best. Life-changing doesn't even begin to describe it. Just think what people would be able to do if they were paid a proper wage", while a third reviewer wrote: "Amazon, please listen to your employees, campaigners, general public and your customers. Stop paying your workers poverty wages. Start paying them Living Wages! I want the people who process my Amazon orders to be able to live on decent wages!"

The "product" was made available for sale this morning for £7.65 – "the living wage rate across the UK outside London where most of Amazon's warehouses are located", says its product description. Amazon states on its website that "in the UK, permanent associates start at a minimum of £7.10 per hour increasing to a median of £8.00 per hour after 24 months".

The stunt is masterminded by Amazon Anonymous, a group of campaigners who have garnered over 62,000 signatories to their change.org petition which says that "with UK sales in 2012 of £4.2bn, you'd think Amazon could afford to pay its workers [both permanent and contracted agency staff] enough to be able to feed and clothe themselves and their families".

The campaigners delivered the petition to Amazon's London offices in February, but were unhappy with the response they received from the retailer, so subsequently launched an email campaign which they say over 10,000 people have now joined, directly emailing the company and asking it to, among other things, "raise its baseline pay for permanent associates from £7.10/hour to the living wage rate of £7.65/hour".

Emily Kenway, the Amazon Anonymous campaigner who has led the operation, said this morning's move was intended to "draw attention to the issue and provoke Amazon into taking it seriously".

"Despite over 62,000 people calling on Amazon to end poverty pay, it has failed to take the call seriously; its response so far consists of avoiding the issue by stating the reward package of permanent employees, which is just a portion of its UK workforce as it relies heavily on contracted agency workers for its UK warehouses," said Kenway.

"Not only that, but it is even failing to pay permanent employees Living Wage rates. Amazon is laughing at us; portraying itself as an important employer of British labour whilst keeping large numbers of its workforce on insecure, temporary contracts, paid less than Living Wages and treated like undignified robots. This company has found its way into the fabric of our society, but as consumers and concerned citizens, we need to say enough is enough."

Kenway said the campaign "to get Amazon to clean itself up" was continuing "by using its own website to draw attention to its ongoing poverty pay".

By 11am, the listing was no longer available to view on Amazon's site. The company has not yet responded to a request for comment.