Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez praised Wayfair workers who planned a walkout Wednesday afternoon in protest of the company selling beds and furniture to migrant detention facilities.
More than 500 employees at Wayfair’s headquarters in Boston signed a protest letter to executives after learning that the retailer planned to sell $200,000 worth of furniture to a government contractor that runs a new detention center for migrant children in Carrizo Springs, Texas.
“The United States government and its contractors are responsible for the detention and mistreatment of hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking asylum in our country — we want that to end,” the employees said in the letter, CNN reported. “We also want to be sure that Wayfair has no part in enabling, supporting, or profiting from this practice.”
A response letter from Wayfair management informed employees that the company planned to go through with the contract.
“As a retailer, it is standard practice to fulfill orders for all customers and we believe it is our business to sell to any customer who is acting within the laws of the countries within which we operate,” the letter read, CNN reported. “This does not indicate support for the opinions or actions of the groups or individuals who purchase from us.”
Wayfair employees announced on Twitter that they planned to stage a walkout on Wednesday at 1:30 p.m. EST and issue a set of demands, including that Wayfair cease all current and future business with contractors participating in the operation of migrant detention camps and that the profits from already completed sales be donated to RAICES, a nonprofit that reunites families at the border.
The workers’ efforts earned the support from Ms. Ocasio-Cortez, a New York democratic socialist and fierce critic of the Trump administration’s immigration policies, which recently came under fire for calling the migrant detention facilities at the U.S. southern border “concentration camps.”
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
An unverified Twitter account dedicated to broadcasting news about the walkout said Wayfair management sent out an email Wednesday announcing that it would be making a $100,000 to the American Red Cross. The account praised the news but added that the Red Cross “has nothing to do with these ICE-operated facilities.”
.@Wayfair stated in an email today that they will be making a donation of $100k to the @RedCross. This is great news! And proof that Wayfair can & does do good.
However, the Red Cross has nothing to do with these ICE-operated facilities.https://t.co/UehtJibmWF
— wayfairwalkout (@wayfairwalkout) June 26, 2019
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