When Amazon announced it was laying off 18,000 employees worldwide, including nearly 1,000 in India, reports surfaced that some of the affected employees broke down and were left “crying in the office” when they heard they were asked to leave.
On Grapevine, a community app for Indian professionals, an Amazon India employee posted sad scenes in offices, including people crying after the layoffs were announced.
“About 75 percent of my team is gone. Even though I’m in the remaining 25 percent, I don’t feel motivated to work anymore. They fire people in booths. People are crying in the office,” the employee posted.
IANS was unable to independently verify the Grapevine user affected by the Amazon layoffs.
Corporate Chat India also posted the user’s screenshot stating “Atmosphere at Amazon India as legoffs are place”.
The layoffs affected both freshmen and veteran workers at Amazon India’s Bengaluru, Gurugram and other locations.
The company has largely closed businesses that are in the early stages of development.
Last week, the Pune Labor Commission office sent a subpoena to Amazon regarding collective layoffs and voluntary separation policies.
The letter to the IT workers’ union called for a joint discussion on January 17 over the company’s alleged layoffs in India.
“The livelihoods of thousands of workers and their families are now at risk. According to the procedures laid down in the Labor Disputes Act, the employer cannot dismiss an employee who is included in the company’s model lists without prior approval from the relevant government. Harpreet Singh Saluja, president of the Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), said in a statement.
In November last year, Amazon made a voluntary severance offer to its employees.
In the same month, the Union Labor Ministry ordered Amazon India to appear before the Deputy Chief Labor Commissioner in Bengaluru in connection with the company’s alleged forced redundancies.
“You (Amazon) are therefore requested to be sure to visit this office with all relevant documentation on the matter, either in person or through an authorized representative, on the date and time set out above,” the ministry’s statement said.
The development follows a lawsuit by the workers’ union NITES, in which they accuse Amazon of violating labor laws.
In a letter to Union Labor Minister Bhupender Yadav, NITES claimed that Amazon employees had been forcibly removed from the company.
Earlier this month, Amazon confirmed that around 18,000 employees will be laid off and multiple teams will be affected, particularly Amazon stores and People, Experience and Technology (PXT) organizations.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said in a statement that they weren’t done with the aforementioned annual planning process and “I expected there would be more job cuts in early 2023.”