Lockdown Impact: Amazon Vice President Resigns And A Few Companies Who Have Sacked Their Employees!

The biggest tech giant, Amazon is making the headlines since the vice president of the company resigned. There were some protests going on in the company regarding issues in the nature of the current pandemic. Workers were protesting over safety measures that were not properly implemented throughout the organization and the company simply fired them.

The vice president of the company gave his resignation when the workers were fired and said that this is the toxic nature of the company. Such instances must be avoided at all costs during the times of a pandemic. Where will the workers go now? How will they feed themselves? Will they sleep with an empty stomach?  The firm will get investigated by the government of New York because it first fired the organizer of the protest and then everyone else.

Surprisingly, amazon is extremely popular but it has always had a troubled relationship with its employees during the past times also. The company has always taken steps to ensure that no unions are made in the warehouse and the manufacturing unit. They have followed various tax-avoiding tactics and have always gotten away with it. It is also asked by a person that the world’s richest firm should give the highest amount of taxes and should also ensure proper safety standards in the firms. By keeping its deliveries going on with respect to the essential items, it has been helping many people across the globe. Instead, the treatment of its workers has become the story. I think consumers are always kept under the influence of large discounts and are never shown the true image of the organisation. The workers are the ones who can tell the true story of any company.

As per his statement, “I quit in dismay at Amazon firing whistle-blowers who were making noise about warehouse employees frightened of COVID-19,”. He also highlighted that he is walking away from over $1 million income and stock but he is very clear about his decision.

In the above scenario, the vice president of the company resigned looking at the dirty politics going on in the company. Not many people have it in them to stand up for something right when their salaries are at stake. Kudos to the person who actually stood up but what happens to the workers who lost their jobs? No new firm would hire them amidst this covid-19 situation going on in the world.

A similar chain of events is going on in our country with regards to employees being laid off but unfortunately no one is standing up for them. Hundreds of employees have complained that they are forced to give their resignation so that it does not look like the company has fired them. Several firms have fired their employees for talking ill about the firm or even without any reason. Centre for Monitoring Indian Economy survey has come up with a outcome that about 12 crore jobs may have been lost during the first phase of lockdown itself and if this keeps on going, a time will come when the all educated and mighty will be working for pennies. The major issue which pertains is shortage of funds during this time. Here are a few examples of the same:

• Oyo hotels and homes has laid off hundreds of employees in the states from various departments like sales, business development and HR since March end. Oyo had previously fired a third of its employees in February. Oyo had also gone for restructuring in January and taken hundreds of jobs in India. So, these big firms aren’t really big at heart?
• Insurance sector must have been on a boom right now but guess what? Acko, an online insurance firm has laid off about 50 employees from the customer service department, operations and sales department and a few from the other departments.
• Tech firms are said to be on a rise right now but the above situation about amazon tells us a completely different story and there is one more case like this. Cloud computing firm, Exotel, has capped the salaries of the employees at a rate fixed by the CEOs of the company.
• USA based firm, Fareportal, has sacked about 500 employees in India. Bad days are already here. What are we moving towards as an economy? A time where people won’t have jobs but a lot of potential?
• Travel company, Travel Triangle has sacked over 250 employees claiming there isn’t any work and the next three quarters look gloomy.
• MakeMyTrip, Cleartrip, ixigo and hospitality chain Fab Hotels are the top-notch firms who have gone for salary cuts and talks are that make my trip has laid off about four hundred employees.
• Curefit has laid off hundreds of employees as of today. The firm has been providing its services through digital modes including personalized training and what not but the firm couldn’t sustain its own trainers and has fired them.
• Bajaj Auto, India’s third-biggest two-wheeler manufacturer, has asked its factory employees to take a 10 percent pay cut if production doesn’t resume soon enough.
• In a conversation, Vistaras spokesperson made a comment that 30% of its workforce will take compulsory no-pay leave of one to three days, depending on employment grades
• Even Reliance one of the largest and biggest conglomerate company of India belonging to Mukesh Ambani, who surpassed Alibaba Group founder Jack Ma in July 2018 to become the richest man in Asia also had an impact of coronavirus lockdown on reliance group and had to cut the salaries of top management of the group that too after a very humble request of his best friend Our Prime Minister Modi requesting all the companies not to cut the salaries. Seems the economical crisis has surpassed every relation during this lockdown.

It is really surprising to see that the backbone and the foundation of all these companies is so low that they can’t sustain their own staff for two months with reduced pays. And on top of that, when they are going for pay cuts, they are actually making the employees do double work. Companies have revoked the job offers given to the college students and new employees. This is such a sad moment for the world and tales will be written about it in the history.  

The vice president of the biggest tech giant is resigning, employees are forced to give resignations so that the firm’s name doesn’t get tarnished, others are laid off without any previous salaries. Staying home is saving lives, but also killing them with no money to sustain their families or themselves.