Employees At Whole Foods Demand Amazon Cut Ties With Palantir

A group representing employees at Whole Foods is pushing for Amazon to cut ties with big data company Palantir.

The Whole Foods employees, who have come together under Whole Worker, accuse Amazon of being “dystopian,” and supporting the “oppression of marginalized groups.” Palantir, which works with ICE, runs on Amazon’s Amazon Web Services (AWS). At least 100 Amazon employees have also passed on a letter demanding that Amazon cut ties with Palantir. The controversy surrounds Palantir’s provision of software to government agencies, which is then used to gather information on undocumented immigrants, including their employment information and immigration history. Whole Worker released a statement saying “We … stand with our co-workers inside Amazon AWS demanding Jeff Bezos cease all business with Palantir and any other company involved in the continued oppression of marginalized groups.”

The statement went over the ways in which Palantir reportedly works with agencies such as ICE. It also accused Amazon of being “…built on the exploitation of marginalized people and the working class,” among other things. Business Insider was able to confirm that the statement was posted by Whole Worker, which has been organizing Whole Foods employees for about a year. The group represents Whole Foods Employees, but does not speak for the company itself. The group contains around 300 people involved in internal communications.

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