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At the newly reopened Uptown Amelie’s location, the majority of staff have been laid off as the company internally reports that the store continues to lose money. Despite this, the manager of operations just received a large bonus after firing the marketing manager and absorbing their salary.

For months before the layoffs, staff at the Uptown Amelie’s location had been, often just before their shifts began, told not to come to work over text. When they did work, they were frequently sent home early. In July, we reported that, along with abysmal working conditions, employees at the Uptown location lost on average an entire hour’s worth of pay every shift due to the high parking fees. The hour cuts were hurting the already diminished pay of Amelie’s employees, who make barely above minimum wage.

Amelie’s made a 2 million dollar investment to renovate and reopen the Uptown location after it was shut down in November 2020. On top of this, last year the company paid for a $45,000 billboard campaign across Charlotte. According to former workers with the company, this did not produce the expected results, and the store has been struggling to generate a profit.

While their employees are left without a job due to a supposed lack of funds, and those who continue to work are forced to work in a now incredibly understaffed store serving Charlotte’s banking elite for near minimum wage, the store’s manager of operations has recently received a large bonus to their salary. This occurred after the marketing manager was fired and the manager of operations absorbed their salary. The manager of operations owns two properties worth close to 700 thousand dollars combined: one is a luxury condo in Myers Park, and the other is a vacation home in Florida.

These layoffs and subsequent bonus for the manager of operations expose the exploitative nature of capitalism and the myth of supposed “risk” taken on by capitalists, which is used to justify said exploitation. When a company succeeds, the management enjoys its spoils stolen off the backs of its workers, and when a company fails, the workers receive the negative effects; meanwhile, the management still benefits. Amelie’s workers are forced to stay with abusive parents and partners or sleep in cars due to their low wages, while the management owns multiple luxury properties.

Workers at Amelie’s, just like the rest of the working class, deserve safe housing and safe working conditions, along with an end to exploitation. Unfortunately, this cannot be done without the overthrow of capitalism; workers in Charlotte need a unified, organized revolutionary labor movement. To do this, independent labor organizations must be built at every workplace to fight for demands and ultimately put power into the hands of workers. It is only through building power and taking collective action that the demands of the working class can begin to be met.