Wayfair IPO on the floor of the New York Stock Exchange. (Image credit: Reuters | Lucas Jackson via CNBC)

Wayfair stocks fall down after more than 500 employees protest the company’s sales of children’s bed to immigrant camps

Faradita Prayusti
Market & Investment
Stocks & Bonds
Jun 27, 2019
2461
On Tuesday, stocks of the online retailer Wayfair fall down over 5 percent after more than 500 employees of the company protested by signing on a petition and going to do a walkout on Wednesday.

It happened after the employees knew that Wayfair sold mattresses for kids to a detention camp for migrants in the Mexican border on June 13. The total amount of the order was about $200,000, told a woman saying herself as a Walfair’s employee.

According to the receipt, approximately 1,600 mattress and 100 bunk beds are planned to arrive in Carrizo Springs, Texas, on Wednesday and Thursday

The company sold beds to a charity group named Baptist Child and Family Services (BCFS) which organize migrant facilities for the Department of Health and Human Services, cited CNBC.

On Friday, over 500 employees sent a letter to senior management demanding Wayfair not to continue doing business with the nonprofit organization.

Instead of selling furniture to BCFS, the employees asked Wayfair to donate all sale’s profits, $86,000, to Refugee and Immigrant Center for Education and Legal Services (RAICES) a nonprofit organization in Texas which reunites families at the border.

Through the letter, Wayfair’s employee wanted the company didn’t take part in getting profit from the migrants. It was the U.S government and its contractors who were responsible for thousands of migrant have to look for asylum in the country and have to endure mistreatments and detention, the employees said in the letter.

The walkout was not meant to attack Wayfair however it was to show how worker’s continued concern about the issue, said one of the employees to CNN.

The protest held in the company headquartered Boston’s Copley Square.

In responding to the employees, Wayfair's leadership team said in the letter that it was standard practice for a seller to meet customer’s orders. The company also emphasized that by purchasing products from Wayfair, it didn’t indicate that Wayfair supports the buyers’ opinion or actions.

Source: https://www.cnbc.com/2019/06/25/wayfair-employees-protest-apparent-sale-of-childrens-beds-to-detention-camp.html

Wayfair , Retail , Migrants , Mexico , Protest , Walkout , Workers