Activists pledging to organize a boycott of Wayfair

Participants of a Wayfair walkout gathered in June in Copley Square in Boston. Scott Eisen/Getty Images/Getty Images

Wayfair’s connections to the US border control controversy has again made it the target of protesters, this time from local activists pledging to organize a boycott against the online home goods retailer.

The activists have organized a petition signed by several hundred customers pledging a boycott in a show of support for Wayfair employees who had staged their own protest in June of the company’s decision to sell bedroom supplies to a government contractor operating migrant centers at the southern border.

“We need to take this beyond the 24-hour news cycle,” said Gillian Mason, co-executive director of Massachusetts Jobs with Justice. “It’s very important to keep up the pressure to make sure people are participating in a sustained movement for justice instead of a single action.”

Yet the group’s effort to deliver the petition to Wayfair at its Back Bay headquarters was rebuffed by building security.

One of the organizers of the internal protest at Wayfair, Madeline Howard, said she welcomed outside organizations telling the company that its customers also care about this issue.

“I absolutely appreciate their support and would love to see other community organizations do the same thing,” said Howard, a project manager for Wayfair.

Wayfair declined to comment.

Hundreds of employees walked out of Wayfair’s office near Copley Square on June 26 after learning the company intended to fill an order from BCFS, a government contractor operating migrant centers, for $200,000 worth of bedroom furniture.

Employees had asked Wayfair executives to stop selling goods for the border camps, but they declined.

Nonetheless, the Jobs for Justice organizers said they would continue to pressure the company.

“As Wayfair’s customers, we cannot allow our continued business with the company to be used as an excuse for its intolerable practices,” the Massachusetts Jobs with Justice petition says. “For this reason, by signing below we pledge to boycott Wayfair until it adheres to the demands of the #WayfairWalkout.”