This came after the Labour Ministry issued a notice to the online retailer on the complaint of Nascent Information Technology Employees Senate (NITES), which in a letter dated 19 November alleged that firings at Amazon India are unethical and illegal, and requested interference.

“Recently we have received complaints from employees of Amazon that they are being forced to quit the company voluntarily, the company has sent a detailed Voluntary Separation Program (VSP) as well,” NITES president Harpreet Singh Saluja said, adding that the livelihood of 1000s has now been made vulnerable.

Amazon employs approximately 100,000 workers in the country. The latest firings at Amazon’s Indian offices are part of the ecommerce giant’s broader plan to slash its headcount by 10,000 globally, with job cuts expected across several verticals.

Internal documents surfaced last week showed that Amazon India is sending out “voluntary severance” offers to some of its employees in various divisions, including human resources and employee services.

Amazon is mulling job cuts in its devices organization, which runs ‘Alexa’ gadgets as well as home security cameras. The company is also firing employees in its human resources and retail divisions.

The online retail giant, like other tech and social media giants, saw sizable profits during the Covid-19 pandemic, as homebound shoppers purchased more items online. But revenue growth slowed as the worst of the pandemic eased and consumers relied less on ecommerce.