Online home goods store Wayfair’s workers are staging a walkout after the company sold beds to an organization managing camps for migrant children along the southern border, drawing praise from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, who has been under fire for calling them “concentration camps,” evoking atrocities committed by Nazi Germany.
“Wayfair workers couldn’t stomach they were making beds to cage children,” Ocasio-Cortez tweeted. “They asked the company to stop. CEO said no.
“Tomorrow, they’re walking out. This is what solidarity looks like — a reminder that everyday people have real power, as long as we’re brave enough to use it.”
Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a 2020 hopeful for the Democratic nomination for president, didn’t miss the opportunity to jump into the fray.
“I stand with the hundreds of @Wayfair employees who are planning to stage a walkout at their Boston headquarters tomorrow,” she tweeted. “The safety and well-being of immigrant children is always worth fighting for.”
Wayfair’s employees are staging the walkout at 1:30 p.m. today in Boston, Mass., after the company’s CEO refused to stop selling beds to BCFS, a government contractor that manages the camps on the border, according to a number of reports.
Last week, employees from the company found out about a $200,000 order of bedroom furniture that had been placed by BCFS for a facility in Carrizo Springs, Texas.
About 547 employees then signed a petition asking company executives to cease all business ties with border camps and organizations that run them.
“We believe that the current actions of the United States and their contractors at the Southern border do not represent an ethical business partnership Wayfair should choose to be a part of,” the letter stated, according to the Globe, which obtained a copy. “At Wayfair, we believe that ‘everyone should live in a home that they love.’ Let’s stay true to that message by taking a stand against the reprehensible practice of separating families, which denies them any home at all.”
Employees also are calling for Wayfair to donate all profits made from the sale to BCFS to the Refugee and Immigrant Center for Educations and Legal Services, which is a Texas nonprofit that provides legal services to immigrants.
Wayfair’s stock was down 5.3% to $144.40 in pre-market trading Wednesday morning, and is down 6.8% over the past week.
Other Democrats also lined up to take shots at the Trump administration over its family separation policy.
We must actively #resist any & all efforts by this cruel, incompetent administration to cage children and separate families. I proudly stand in solidarity w/ the hardworking individuals at #Wayfair who are walking out in the name of #justice & humanity. https://t.co/UFvCZNGeTJ
— Rep Ayanna Pressley (@RepPressley) June 25, 2019
Wayfair workers couldn’t stomach they were making beds to cage children.
They asked the company to stop. CEO said no.
Tomorrow, they‘re walking out.
This is what solidarity looks like – a reminder that everyday people have real power, as long as we’re brave enough to use it. https://t.co/667abeLDTG
— Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@AOC) June 25, 2019
I stand with the hundreds of @Wayfair employees who are planning to stage a walkout at their Boston headquarters tomorrow. The safety and well-being of immigrant children is always worth fighting for. https://t.co/L3hqbazX4l
— Elizabeth Warren (@ewarren) June 25, 2019