The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the US federal agency responsible for conducting union elections and investigating illegal practices in the world of work, has just filed a complaint against Amazon. The e-commerce giant is accused of having exerted pressure on its employees to prevent them from forming a union.
Anti-union meetings organized by Amazon
At Amazon’s JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, where a union sprung up in April, the company allegedly illegally threatened its workers with losing benefits and withholding or cutting wages. they were voting for unionization. The charges mainly relate to meetings organized by Amazon from November 2021 to March 2022, which consisted of forcing employees engaged in union organizing campaigns to attend anti-union presentations or speeches.
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This is a common tactic of companies that oppose the unionization of their employees. As reported Vice, the complaint alleges that paid consultants engaged in union-busting tactics such as mandatory meetings, promising employees better pay and benefits if they voted against the union, threatening employees with pay and benefits reduced, or outright dismissal if they voted in favor of the union. They also ensured that specific employee issues would be addressed if they promised to vote against the union.
In addition, messages, sent via Amazon’s private messaging service, would also have threatened employees, promising them lower wages, for example.
Amazon said it opposed forming a union
” I think it’s historic. I think this will reverse decades of anti-union decisions Amazon Labor Union attorney Seth Goldstein said of the NLRB complaint. Indeed, this decision on the part of the federal agency could, in the long term, lead to the prohibition of anti-union meetings organized by companies, and which go against labor law.
This is not the first time that Amazon, whose working conditions in its warehouses have often been decried, has been accused of questionable practices in order to prevent the formation of a union. In 2021, employees at its Bessemer, Alabama warehouse held a vote to form a union. In the end, the majority of employees voted no, but Amazon intervened to influence their opinion.
Amazon’s efforts to prevent the union from forming in New York failed, but the firm verbally opposed its creation. Moreover, it did not hesitate to dismiss union leaders to weaken the social movement.
Unionization is gaining ground across the Atlantic
” Our goal remains to work directly with our team to make Amazon a great place to work. The allegations in the NLRB complaint are baseless, and we look forward to showing it through this process. “said Amazon, which therefore seems ready to contest the complaint of the NLRB. That would take the case to court, which attorney Seth Goldstein hopes. According to him, this would shed light on these meetings whose purpose is to prevent employees from fighting for their rights.
The situation in which Amazon finds itself may echo Apple. Employees of the apple brand also express their desire to form unions; which seems to bother the company. More generally, more and more young employees are interested in unionization whereas they were far from it until now. This is explained in particular by the Covid-19 pandemic and the price inflation that is currently raging in the world; employees need higher wages to live with dignity.