The National Labor Relations Committee has ruled that Amazon illegally interrogated a warehouse worker who led colleagues on a strike to handling the company from coronavirus pandemic, on a Monday Motherboard report.
Amazon worker Jonathan Bailey led 13 workers on a walkout from a company warehouse in Queens County, New York, on March 20, 2020, after a colleague tested positive for the virus and was sent home. This followed another outing to the same warehouse two days earlier in similar circumstances, for which Bailey was also a lead organizer.
After the two breaks, Amazon sent an executive who described himself as a former FBI employee to lure Bailey into a meeting and accused him of engaging in conduct that could be construed as harassment of colleagues. The manager told Bailey he would have to be notified before any further action, Motherboard reports:
The next day, a regional manager who introduced himself as a former FBI agent pulled Bailey aside in the management offices and questioned Bailey about his role in the walkout, told him his behavior could be harassment and asked Bailey to contact him before future departures, at Bailey’s NLRB testimony.
“He interrogated me for an hour and a half,” Bailey told Motherboard. “A week later I was called back to the office and they wrote to me for harassment, saying that people felt hurt by what I had done.” The motherboard obtained an audio recording of that meeting.
Federal labor law prohibits employers from retaliating against workers who try to join a union or take collective action against unfair or dangerous conditions.
Bailey filed a complaint with the NLRB and reached an agreement with Amazon on the documents dated March 3, 2021. The agreement resolved part of the problem, but the NLRB issued another ruling that Amazon violated federal labor laws. at least four times. Specific violations included ordering employees not to organize “without prior notice [them]”Threatening the discipline of the organizers and”[interrogating] employees about their participation ”, according to the documents of the agency obtained by Motherboard.
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NLRB rejected three other lawsuits against Amazon for the same issue, according to Motherboard. As a result of the settlement, Amazon will be required to place flyers announcing the warehouse staff that they will not be confronted or asked about protected activities.
The motherboard had previously reported Amazon neglected to prepare for pandemic conditions, despite having a large corporate security division designed to monitor everything from pandemic threats to worker behavior and labor and environmental movements. At the same time, workers faced pressure to work even harder Amazon deliveries have increased due to blocking orders imposed to limit the spread of the virus. Amazon internal documents obtained by the site back Queens plant workers’ claims that the company violated New York’s paid sick leave law by terminating workers who failed to show up for their shift, as well as Amazon’s 12-hour shift policy. Amazon also reported little consumables remain, such as hand sanitizer, sterilizing wipes, disinfectant and water for employees facing “heat stress” in the company’s sweaty facilities.
“While we do not agree with the allegations made in this case, we are pleased to leave this issue behind,” Amazon spokeswoman Leah Say told Motherboard. “The health and safety of our employees is our top priority and we are proud to provide inclusive environments in which employees can excel without fear of retaliation, intimidation or harassment.”
“Amazon has fabricated false and unfair disciplinary action to build false files against workers who lead the struggle to be treated as more than greedy in the Amazon profit factory,” the group that organized the organization told Amazonians United New York City. departures. “We thank NLRB for countless hours and validating what we already knew to be true. Ultimately, it is our solidarity that protects us and will win us a better world. ”
Amazon, led by the richest man in the world, has long faced the push of workers who say the company routinely ignores them health and safety in favor of profits, and NLRB decided the company to take illegal retaliation against workers who led a strike in Chicago and another worker from Staten Island who protested outside an Amazon feature on the day off. The company failed to stop a union unit at a warehouse in Alabama where workers will vote on forming a bargaining unit at the end of March, while employees at other facilities in the country are considering to do the same. President Joe Biden actually approved Amazon’s unionization efforts this month, launching a clear warning to Brass that workers have the right to form a union without interference from management.