Amazon illegally threatened staff, union board alleges | Workers’ Rights News

The complaint involves a Staten Island fulfillment center where a fledgling union founded by current and former Amazon employees has been trying to organize.

Amazon.com Inc. violated federal labor law by threatening, interrogating and surveilling employees at a New York warehouse where workers are trying to unionize, U.S. labor board prosecutors alleged in a complaint issued Thursday.

The National Labor Relations Board complaint seeks remedies including an order requiring mandatory training of Amazon managers and consultants, as well as requiring management to educate employees about their rights with an NLRB agent present.

The complaint involves a Staten Island fulfillment center where a fledgling union founded by current and former Amazon employees has been trying to organize. On Wednesday, the labor board announced that the group had collected enough support to hold an election. Amazon has said it is skeptical that the Amazon Labor Union has secured the required number of legitimate signatures.

An Amazon spokesperson didn’t immediately comment on the NLRB allegations.

According to the complaint, an Amazon consultant last May promised to fix employees’ problems if they opposed the union, interrogated them about their involvement with the ALU and told them that union organizing was going to fail because the organizers were “thugs.” The company also repeatedly confiscated union literature and told employees that they weren’t allowed to hand it out, according to the filing.

“We just hope that Amazon is held accountable,” ALU leader Chris Smalls said Thursday. “We hope that other union-busters as well learn their lesson and that workers are encouraged to speak up.”

Amazon is grappling with unprecedented labor activism. Last year, the company handily defeated an effort to unionize a facility in Bessemer, Alabama. But the labor board ordered a fresh election after the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union appealed the outcome, alleging Amazon intimidated workers – which the company denies.