Wayfair Employees To Walkout Over Sales To Migrant Kids' Detention Camp

In an open revolt, employees at the online home furnishings retailer Wayfair staged a walkout to oppose the company’s sale of $200,000 worth of furniture to a government contractor running a detention center for migrant children in Texas.

The protest began at 1.30pm at the company’s Boston headquarters on Wednesday.

Earlier, 500 employees signed a protest letter after they discovered the contract for selling furniture wares to the detention camp at the U.S southern border.

The walkout of employees followed the refusal of Wayfair to cancel the contract.

Elizabeth Good, one of the organizers flayed Wayfair and said it was “pretty scary” that the company seeking to profit after knowing well, what has been going on at the southern border

According to reports, the contractor Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) placed the order on June 13 and the consignment was due for delivery on Wednesday and Thursday. Under the deal, Wayfair had to sell 1,600 mattresses and 100 bunk beds to BCFS.

The merchandise was to be delivered at Carrizo Springs, Texas, where the group BCFS runs a migrant influx shelter housing 1,600 unaccompanied children who crossed the U.S border illegally. In the past, the compound has been in use for housing oil-field workers.

The employees wanted Wayfair to stop doing business with the contractor (BCFS) and act within a code of ethics empowering employees “to act in accordance with our core values”.

End detention and mistreatment of migrants

The workers’ letter to the management stated: “The U.S. 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 protesting Wayfair employees also insisted the company donate all profits from the deal to Raices, a non-profit that works for the unification of families at the border. The profit is around $86,000, according to a tweet.

However, Wayfair management defended the sale and told employees in a mail that “it is a standard practice to fulfill orders for any customer acting within the law.”

Wayfair stock traded 0.4 percent higher to $145.10 per share on Wednesday afternoon. Wayfair did not react publicly. The company’s stock traded Wednesday afternoon 0.4 percent higher to $145.10 a share.

Wayfair’s main competitor is Ikea, which is also ramping up its presence with new distribution centers. Ikea opened the Florida center late last year.

More instances of staff protest

Similar protests by company employees against the policies of the Trump administration had been reported in the past as well.

In 2018, United Airlines, American Airlines, and Frontier urged the federal government not to hire their planes to transport migrant children after separating them from their parents.

Meanwhile, the deteriorating conditions at the detention centers for minors are raising the risk of a major health disaster, according to doctors, lawyers, and migrant advocates.

On Tuesday, nearly 250 migrant children were shifted to a center under the DHHS after a group of lawyers visited a facility where they found toddlers without diapers and hundreds of children staying unbathed for several weeks.