A pie cutter is being used to draw attention to working conditions at Amazon.

The pro-labor group Working Washington is escalating its battle against Amazon.com, this time through an unusual tool: A pie cutter.

Members of the group have essentially hijacked the reviews section on a pie cutter product page on Amazon.com, posting a stream of messages that are meant to draw attention to the labor practices and tax policies of the giant Seattle online retailer.

“The idea is to bring Amazon a message in a way they can’t miss —  by using their own customer feedback tools to give a negative review to the company’s  tax dodging, mistreatment of workers, and predatory business practices,” Sage Wilson of Working Washington tells GeekWire.

More than 30 messages have been posted on the site so far today, with many using the kitchen tool as a metaphor for what they believe are poor working conditions and an uneven tax system that benefits Amazon.com.

Here’s a look at a couple examples:


The reviews amount to nothing more than a publicity stunt, and Wilson said that he expects Amazon.com will wipe them off the site at some point. Asked about the impact on the actual maker of the pie cutter, Wilson said that he doesn’t anticipate any negative ramifications.

“This product is sold on Amazon’s site and fulfilled through their warehouses (which can get almost hot enough to bake a pie), so we think it’s a perfectly reasonable item to use as a place to raise the issue of Amazon not paying their fair share,” Wilson said. “We’re absolutely not pointing to the seller of this cutter of anything whatsoever — we’re only talking about Amazon, and the point is that it’s time for rules that ensure Amazon and other big corporations pay their fair share and leave more than crumbs for the rest of us.”

Working Washington is the same group that raised issues about Amazon.com at a City of Seattle Design Review Board meeting last week, using statements and questions to embarrass the online retailer at the public forum.

Amazon.com has taken several hits over the past year as it relates to its treatment of warehouse workers, not to mention bad publicity over its stance on collecting sales taxes in some states. It is also currently the subject of a 4-part series in The Seattle Times.

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