Amazon and consultants for the corporate violated federal labor law by interrogating and threatening workers concerning their union actions, and racially disparaging organizers who had been searching for to unionize a Staten Island warehouse, a National Labor Relations Board decide ruled.
The NLRB stated Friday that Administrative Law Judge Lauren Esposito discovered Amazon “dedicated a number of violations” of federal labor law at its largest warehouse in New York, referred to as JFK8, between May and October 2021, a interval that noticed a rise in organizing exercise.
In April 2022, workers voted to join the Amazon Labor Union, a grassroots group of present and former workers, turning into the primary unionized Amazon facility within the U.S. Since that victory, the group has been preventing to achieve a contract with Amazon.
The decide in New York heard testimony from Amazon workers, managers and labor consultants in digital hearings that went on for nearly a 12 months. Esposito decided Amazon illegally confiscated organizing pamphlets from workers that had been being distributed in on-site breakrooms and performed surveillance of workers’ organizing actions.
Amazon additionally violated labor legal guidelines when it despatched an worker at a neighboring facility to JFK8 residence early from his shift and altered his work assignments in retaliation for supporting the union, the decide discovered. The worker, Daequan Smith, sorted packages at a supply station referred to as DYY6, down the road from JFK8, and was later fired in Nov. 2021. The union alleged Smith’s firing was in retaliation to his union actions.
Additionally, the decide discovered that Amazon broke the law when a “union avoidance” guide, Bradley Moss, who was employed by the corporate, threatened workers, telling them it could be “futile” to vote to affix the ALU. Amazon and different corporations often hire labor consultants like Moss, known as “persuaders,” to dissuade workers from unionizing. The firm spent $14 million on anti-union consultants in 2022, the Huffington Post reported in March, citing disclosure types filed with the Department of Labor.
As a results of the ruling, Amazon might be required to submit notices reminding workers of their rights at its JFK8 and DYY6 services. The firm additionally has to make Smith “complete for any lack of earnings and different advantages,” the NLRB stated.
In one trade with a JFK8 worker, Natalie Monarrez, Moss mentioned the union marketing campaign at one other Amazon facility, BHM1, in Bessemer, Alabama. Monarrez stated Moss advised her the Bessemer marketing campaign was “not a critical union drive,” however a “Black Lives Matter protest about social injustice.”
“Moss then pointed to the entrance of the JFK8 warehouse and stated, ‘Just like these guys out right here, they’re only a bunch of thugs,'” Esposito wrote in her judgment, citing testimony from Monarrez.
Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards stated in an announcement that firm is reviewing the decide’s resolution and weighing its subsequent steps primarily based on the ruling.
“We disagree with sure selections throughout the ruling, however are glad the decide agreed that the terminated particular person shouldn’t be reinstated,” Hards added.
Moss did not instantly reply to a request for remark.
Employees at BHM1 voted against becoming a member of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in April 2021, however the results of the election were tossed after the NLRB discovered Amazon improperly interfered within the vote. A do-over election was held final 12 months, however the outcomes stay too near name.
Amazon’s labor report has been scrutinized closely, particularly as union organizing ramped up in its warehouse and supply workforce throughout the Covid pandemic. The firm faces 240 open or settled unfair labor apply costs throughout 26 states, in keeping with the NLRB, regarding a variety of allegations, together with its conduct round union elections.
The firm has additionally clashed with Chris Smalls, a former Amazon worker and one of many leaders of ALU. A leaked memo obtained by Vice revealed David Zapolsky, Amazon’s normal counsel, had referred to Smalls, a Black man, as “not sensible or articulate,” and beneficial making him “the face” of efforts to prepare workers.
Amazon continues to problem the JFK8 election outcomes, in addition to the NLRB and the union’s conduct throughout the drive. The company upheld the results of the election in January.