Welcome to Axis Porrata, where we take just 10 minutes to get you smarter on the collision of tech, business, and politics.

Brought to you by Silicon Valley Bank, Ideas Bank here.

I'm Danper Mac.

On today's show, escalating treason talk against Google and a Silicon Valley scandal

gets settled. The first, Amazon Unprimed. So we're taping this in the midst of Amazon Prime Day,

which actually now seems to be Amazon Prime Days, plural, a 48-hour stretch of discounted retail

gluttony, basically Black Friday Goes Digital and global, with Amazon

expected to generate nearly $6 billion in sales. But not everyone is super excited by the savings,

and I'm not just talking here about other retailers. Instead, there's a group of Amazon warehouse

workers in Minnesota who've decided to go on strike during the prime days. And that's also

happening with workers at seven different facilities in Germany. In both cases, they're protesting

low wages, despite Amazon's $15 per hour minimum wage. But the biggest complaints are really

about working conditions, including things like item quotas and seemingly punitive bathroom

break schedules. Moreover,

there are also union protests outside of Amazon facilities elsewhere in Europe this week and other

protests in the U.S., including among Amazon workers in Seattle, over everything from these worker

complaints to the companies deal with U.S. immigration authorities. And there's also a social

media campaign to get consumers

to boycott Amazon this week, including subsidiaries, Zappos, and Whole Foods, and Pillpack.

Again, Amazon is on pace to have a record prime day. This thing from a business perspective is

clearly going to be a huge success. And the protesting workers are just a tiny fraction of the

company's global distribution force.

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