Amazon workers are increasingly upset over the online company’s act of selling a book that they have labeled as negatively discussing LGBTQ values, although, in reality, it focuses on the transgender movement among young children. 
NBC News <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/amazon-workers-petition-two-quit-over-anti-lgbtq-book-sales-n1273870">reported</a> that at least two Amazon employees have recently quit in order to push back against Amazon’s selling of “Irreversible Damage: The Transgender Craze Seducing Our Daughters,” written by Abigail Shrier.
As <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/tech/tech-news/amazon-workers-petition-two-quit-over-anti-lgbtq-book-sales-n1273870">reported</a> by NBC News: 
<blockquote>
The resignations come after a complaint posted to the company’s internal message board in April drew the support of over 467 Amazon corporate employees, according to a copy obtained by NBC News. As of last year, the company employed over 1.3 million people worldwide and is the second-largest employer in the U.S.
</blockquote>
The petition was led by employees and advocates who support deplatforming Shrier&#8217;s book.
&#8220;The book is currently listed as the first, second and third bestsellers — for the hardcover, softcover and Kindle editions — in Amazon’s category of &#8216;LGBTQ+ Demographic Studies,'&#8221; per the outlet.
After the complaint was previously put up through Amazon&#8217;s internal resources, the company went through a process to determine if it would keep the book.
As <a href="https://www.seattletimes.com/business/amazon/amazon-overrules-employees-calls-to-stop-selling-book-questioning-controversial-treatment-for-transgender-youth/">reported</a> by The Seattle Times in May, &#8220;On April 23, Amazon’s director of book content risk and quality posted on an internal message board that Amazon would not stop selling [the book].&#8221;
“Amazon has an internal process for evaluating the appropriateness of books and we have shared your feedback,” the director wrote. “In this case, the process included gathering feedback from Glamazon board members and the Books Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion team. After examining the content of the book in detail and calibrating with senior leadership, we have confirmed that it does not violate our content policy.”
“In an internal thread from the complaint obtained by NBC News, multiple employees raised concerns that the book is listed as a bestseller and turns up as the first result when searching for books on transgender topics on Amazon,” NBC News noted on Wednesday.
“Due to our success and scale, our customers will come to us seeking to educate themselves about their transgender children,” an employee wrote. “We have a responsibility to make sure that we do not use our powerful market position to amplify the harm this book causes.”
An Amazon spokeswoman, Cecelia Fan, said in a statement recently that Amazon is committed to giving access to diverse views.
“As a bookseller, we believe that providing access to written speech and a variety of viewpoints is one of the most important things we do — even when those viewpoints differ from our own or Amazon’s stated positions,” Fan said.
The book, written by Abigail Shrier, discusses the popularity of the transgender movement among young girls. Shrier has made the point in the past that she does not have anything against adults deciding to be transgender, but rather is concerned with how the movement affects young people before they are perhaps ready to make such a massive life decision. 
The book&#8217;s Amazon <a href="https://www.amazon.com/Irreversible-Damage-Transgender-Seducing-Daughters/dp/1684510317">description</a> reads, in part:
<blockquote>Until just a few years ago, gender dysphoria—severe discomfort in one’s biological sex—was vanishingly rare. It was typically found in less than .01 percent of the population, emerged in early childhood, and afflicted males almost exclusively.
But today whole groups of female friends in colleges, high schools, and even middle schools across the country are coming out as “transgender.” These are girls who had never experienced any discomfort in their biological sex until they heard a coming-out story from a speaker at a school assembly or discovered the internet community of trans “influencers.”</blockquote>
Shrier said in a statement, per the outlet: “This issue won&#8217;t go away just because some disgruntled Amazon employees wish it would. And banning the book won&#8217;t help these girls or anyone else.”
She added, “My book goes out of its way to honor the experiences of transgender adults, never disparages them, and never implies that the trans identity is a mental illness.&#8221;
One of the main points of contention in the complaint, according to the outlet, seems to revolve around the fact that Amazon made a point to tell Congress earlier this year that it had “chosen not to sell books that frame LGBTQ+ identity as a mental illness.” The company was responding at the time to concerns from Republican senators over its removal of another book about transgender issues, “When Harry Became Sally: Responding to the Transgender Moment.&#8221;
Several companies have either had employees voice concerns over specific company policies or quit because of their discontent over products that lean more conservative. When this happens, these businesses have the choice of either caving to a few unhappy workers or listening to the marketplace. 
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Amazon Employees Sign Petition, Quit Over Company Selling Book About Transgender Movement

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On Thursday, Amazon announced plans to build autonomous robot delivery systems in a blog post titled, “Amazon launches a new Development Center in Helsinki to support Amazon Scout,” a move that will add further concern for the hundreds of thousands of workers in the delivery sector.
“Amazon has announced the creation of a new Amazon Scout Development Center in Helsinki, Finland focused on autonomous delivery technology,” Amazon <a href="https://blog.aboutamazon.eu/innovation/amazon-launches-a-new-development-center-in-helsinki-to-support-amazon-scout">stated</a>. “The new team will consist of over two dozen engineers in Helsinki to start, and will be dedicated to research and development for Amazon Scout, Amazon’s fully electric autonomous delivery service that currently operates in the U.S.”
Amazon described its Scout devices as “inherently safe,” which are “the size of a small cooler” and “roll along sidewalks at a walking pace.”
“Amazon Scout currently delivers packages to customers in four locations across the U.S.,” the post continued. “The team in Helsinki will work closely with the Amazon Scout research and development labs in Seattle, U.S. and teams in Cambridge, U.K and Tübingen, Germany to develop 3D software to simulate the complexity of real life and ensure Scout can safely navigate around obstacles while making deliveries.”
“We invest in our local communities by creating new jobs, building philanthropic partnerships, and reducing the impact of climate change on future generations by building a sustainable business,” Amazon claimed. “From the local jobs we bring, to the local people we employ, train, and upskill — our business is made up of people from the communities in which we operate. Across Europe, Amazon is creating thousands of quality jobs and investing billions in local economies. We created 20,000 jobs in 2020, growing our employee population to more than 135,000 across 15 European countries.”
Despite Amazon’s boast of job creation, however, a real concern here is that autonomous robot delivery systems could signal the future replacement of hundreds of thousands of in-person delivery jobs.
Another part of this strategy appears to include the use of autonomous trucking services, known as PlusDrive. As <a href="https://www.forbes.com/sites/patrickmoorhead/2021/06/30/amazon-goes-all-in-on-truck-safety-with-autonomous-driving-company-plus/?sh=4340e09560fc">Forbes</a> reported days ago, “Amazon has contracted to purchase at least 1,000 Plus Retrofit units for its delivery fleet in a deal worth up to $150 million.”
These systems are designed to “retrofit existing trucks with next-generation levels of autonomy.” While these vehicles will still require a human driver, it is not unreasonable to assume that the long-term goal could be fully-automated delivery truck systems.
The move toward automation is certainly not limited to the delivery space. Last month, for example, TechCrunch reported that robotic beverage maker, Botrista, raised $10 million in Series A funding.
“The company’s premier product is the simply named Drinkbot (Botrista, it seems, is enough pun name to go around),” <a href="https://techcrunch.com/2021/06/28/robotic-beverage-maker-botrista-raises-10m/">TechCrunch</a> reported. “The latest version of the robotic drink mixing system features a refrigerated base with up to eight ingredients, a touchscreen control panel and 14 separate nozzles for dispensing the mixed beverages. The entire process runs around 20 seconds.”
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Amazon Employees Sign Petition, Quit Over Company Selling Book About Transgender Movement

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