Seth Goldstein, a labor lawyer for Amazon Labor Union, referred to as the suspensions of the Staten Island workers “a violation of workers’ rights to join in a collective action about the terms and conditions of their employment.”
“The workers didn’t feel safe going back to work. They were engaging in rights that have been protected for 85 years under the National Labor Relations Act,” Goldstein mentioned.
Amazon confirmed that firm managers had suspended workers with pay who engaged in the work stoppage on Monday, as they examine the occasions that came about. Company spokesman Paul Flaningan mentioned that whereas Amazon respects its workers’ rights to protest, it isn’t acceptable for workers to occupy energetic work areas, break rooms or thoroughfares in its warehouses.
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos owns The Washington Post.
The mass suspension came about lower than 10 days earlier than warehouse workers at a separate Amazon warehouse close to Albany, New York, are slated to vote to change into the second Amazon workforce to hitch Amazon Labor Union.
That unbiased union made nationwide headlines in April after securing an unprecedented victory for the labor motion on the Staten Island facility, signaling a brand new period for labor relations at Amazon, the nation’s second largest employer. However, the corporate has thus far refused to acknowledge the union.
Amazon Labor Union organizers say Amazon’s crackdown in Staten Island was supposed to have a broad chilling impact on their organizing campaigns, together with the upcoming election.
Union organizers mentioned that 10 union leaders who led the motion have been suspended on Tuesday, in addition to 40 warehouse workers who refused to return to their shifts.
Video recordings of the motion shared with The Washington Post present chaos in the warehouse cafeteria, with dozens of workers chanting “send us home” and later confronting administration.
Flaningan, the Amazon spokesman, mentioned that all workers have been safely evacuated from the realm of the warehouse the place the hearth had damaged out, and day shift workers have been despatched dwelling with pay. He added that when the hearth division had licensed that the constructing was secure, the corporate requested evening shift workers to report back to their scheduled shifts.
“While the vast majority of employees reported to their workstations, a small group refused to return to work and remained in the building without permission,” he mentioned.
Union leaders dispute Amazon’s description of the occasion.
“It’s a shame that due to Amazon’s lack of safety protocols, workers had to take a stand, because they were not feeling as though the company took [the fire] as seriously as they should have,” mentioned Christian (*50*), president of Amazon Labor Union. Amazon fired (*50*) from the Staten Island facility, after he led a walkout in the course of the peak of the covid outbreak in 2020.
Amazon has refused to work with the union in Staten Island. Last month, a National Labor Relations Board listening to officer mentioned it could dismiss Amazon’s objections to the union’s victory, securing a path for warehouse workers to barter a contract. The union has but to be licensed.
Meanwhile, the corporate has responded to the excessive stakes union marketing campaign in Albany by resorting to acquainted techniques from earlier union campaigns. They have introduced in union avoidance consultants to persuade its workforce to vote towards unionization, and have disciplined the marketing campaign’s lead organizer.