SEATTLE — Amazon.com Inc., addressing issues that have drawn heavy criticism of the company, told shareholders that it planned to improve warehouse conditions and drop its membership in a conservative public-policy organization.
More than 100 protesters rallied outside the company's annual shareholders meeting Thursday at the Seattle Art Museum, calling on the Internet retailer to pay more taxes, treat its workers better and drop its membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council.
Amazon founder and Chief Executive Jeff Bezos said the company would spend $52 million this year retrofitting its warehouses with air conditioning. Amazon has come under heavy criticism for conditions at its warehouses after a Pennsylvania newspaper reported that employees were forced to work in temperatures above 100 degrees last summer.
In response to a shareholder's question, general counsel Michelle Wilson said Amazon had decided not to renew its membership in the nonprofit ALEC "because of positions they've taken not related to our business."
