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Hundreds of tech workers gather outside the Amazon Spheres during a Climate Strike walkout and march in Seattle, Washington, U.S. September 20, 2019. - On Wednesday, Amazon started its largest layoffs in history, affecting 18,000 people. - In an internal Slack channel, Amazon staff shared team names and job levels to add clarity to the process. - The layoffs will mostly impact roles in HR and retail organizations. As Amazon began the largest layoffs in company history on Wednesday, an internal Slack channel blew up with employees sharing details about the job cuts. Individual employees shared personal information, such as their team names, tenure, and job levels, in an effort to put together a list of organizations affected by the layoffs, according to screenshots obtained by Insider. The layoffs-related Slack channel has over 37,000 members. "Slack is exploding," one employee said. "It's been moving so fast, I can't keep up with scrolling," another person told Insider about the Slack channel. They asked not to be identified discussing sensitive matters. Amazon employees are scrambling to gather information as the layoff process has largely been ambiguous, according to people who spoke to Insider anonymously because they're not authorized to speak to the press (Insider is aware of their identity). Though Amazon executives [shared some details about the layoffs on Wednesday](https://www.businessinsider.com/ ... nt-employees-2023-1), saying it'll mostly focus on retail and HR organizations, it's unclear what specific teams within those businesses will be affected. Amazon's spokesperson didn't respond to a request for comment on Wednesday. Amazon employees [cobbled together a similar list back in November](https://www.businessinsider.com/ ... alexa-slack-2022-11), after the New York Times [first reported](https://www.nytimes.com/2022/11/14/technology/amazon-layoffs.html) roughly 10,000 job cuts, as company leadership largely remained silent about impending layoffs. Amazon's CEO Andy Jassy [announced earlier this month](https://affiliate.insider.com/?p ... &disabled=false) that over 18,000 employees would be laid off. Many employees in the Slack channel expressed shock and surprise. They were individually notified by email on Wednesday about their job status. One person even called for a union for corporate employees, a message that drew over 80 responses. "I just got notice that my job is eliminated. I'm getting laid off," the person said. "THIS IS WHY WE NEED UNIONS!!!" Here's a running tally of the list of teams affected by Wednesday's layoffs, according to screenshots from the internal Amazon Slack channel: PRIMS CBA (Consumer Behavior Analytics) AWS-PXT OpsTechIT Books Amazon Care Santos PXT Kindle Reader AFT (Amazon Fulfillment Technology) Payment Services SCOT CET (Customer Engagement Tech) Robotics AWS TADA Prime Air AB search JWO (Just Walk Out) Selling Partner Services Games Traffic engineering Amazon health Payment services Pharmacy Consumer payments Physical stores SCOT (Supply Chain Optimization Technologies) Amazon Fresh Glo Pro DCT Amazon Fresh GFT Seller Partner Services Alexa shopping design ICC Profit Intel |
