Athena, the grass-roots alliance formed to influence and rein in Amazon’s power, is now looking to unify the resistance movement against the tech giant. The coalition comprises three dozen grass-roots groups that are involved in issues like digital surveillance, antitrust and working conditions in warehouses. Pressure on Amazon’s practices have been mounting after a report from the Economic Roundtable – a non-profit research group from South California – investigated the impact of Amazon’s warehouses on communities. It calculated that Amazon trucks last year created $642 million in “uncompensated public costs” for noise, road wear, accidents and harmful emissions. Daniel Flaming, co-author of the Economic Roundtable report said: “Our conclusion is that it’s time for Amazon to come of age and pay its own way.” Previous grass-roots efforts led by labour and immigrant organisations to restrain Amazon’s power are now joining under Athena. “We’re learning from what makes Amazon back down and looking to replicate that as much as possible with as many people as possible,” said Dania Rajendra, Athena’s director.

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