NLRB alleges Amazon broke law by anti-worker action in New York

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has issued a complaint against Amazon, alleging that the company illegally intimidated, surveilled and sued employees working as a union at its Staten Island, New York facilities. Questioned. were trying to start. The company also reportedly hired a union avoidance consultant who told workers that union organizers were "thugs," according to Motherboard.

The NLRB complaint, a copy of which was obtained by The Verge, details other alleged incidents between Amazon and union organizers, in which security guards several times prevented the organizers from distributing pamphlets discussing unions. According to the complaint, the company reportedly made "an explicit promise to address complaints from employees if they rejected the union as their bargaining representative."

Amazon will either have to settle the matter or go to trial, and the NLRB is asking it to implement training for managers, supervisors, security guards and union avoidance consultants to ensure they protect workers' legal rights. protect the. aware of rights.

The NLRB has several other disputes with Amazon over labor laws. In December, the company settled several cases with the regulator, agreeing to post notices to current and former employees about their rights to join the union and the legal protections they have against retaliation. Amazon also agreed to change rules that made it difficult to organize workers together. The NLRB found that the company violated labor laws during a union election in Bessemer, Alabama and ordered to do so again. In the original election, workers voted against forming more than two unions.

The NLRB sent a statement from Cathy Drew King, Regional Director for Region 29, about their complaint to The Verge. it reads:

Under federal labor law, workers have the right to join and form unions and employers are prohibited from interfering with that right. Today the NLRB issued a complaint against Amazon alleging that the company has repeatedly broken the law by threatening, surveying and questioning its Staten Island warehouse employees who have engaged in a union organizing campaign. The complaint seeks to prevent and address this unlawful conduct to ensure that Amazon employees can freely and fairly exercise their rights under the National Labor Relations Act.

Amazon did not immediately respond to The Verge's request for comment. Motherboard reports that an Amazon spokesperson denied the allegations.

On Thursday the Amazon Labor Union (or ALU), which is organizing at Amazon's Staten Island facilities, announced that it had successfully petitioned to hold union elections for the JFK8 warehouse. The election details will be decided after the NLRB hearing to be held on February 16. One of the organizers of the ALU is Deacon Smith. Last week, the NLRB confirmed it was preparing to file a complaint alleging that Amazon illegally fired Smith for trying to unionize.