Amazon union

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The warehouse workers of Amazon, the largest American e-commerce retailer, have sought to establish unions to demand workplace improvements in light of the company's scrutinized labor practices and stance against unions. While some Amazon warehouses are unionized in Europe, none are unionized in the United States. Worker actions have included work stoppages and have won concessions including increased pay, safety precautions, and time off.

Background

As the second-largest American employer and the largest American e-commerce retailer with over one million workers and rapidly expanding, Amazon's warehouse labor practices have been subject to continued scrutiny, including reporting on work conditions, rising injury rates, worker surveillance, and efforts to block unionization.[1][2][3] In the late 2010s, Amazon began to address warehouse wages and training opportunities.[4] Despite increasing its minimum wage to $15/hour, providing healthcare benefits and COVID-19 testing, labor advocates and government officials have criticized Amazon's warehouse working conditions. While unions are common among Amazon warehouse workers in Europe, none of Amazon's American workers are unionized. Amazon has actively opposed unionization in the United States, having stated a preference to resolve issues with employees directly, asserting that unions would impede the company's innovation. Prior to the 2020 Bessemer union drive, Amazon had not faced a major union vote in the United States since Delaware in 2014.[5]

United States

Technical Amazon workers held the company's first unionization vote in the United States in January 2014, which failed 21 to 6. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) held the vote following a December petition from International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers on behalf of 30 Amazon warehouse maintenance and repair workers in Middletown, Delaware.[6]

Throughout the late 2010s, warehouses in Staten Island and Minnesota participated in union drives and bargaining. Workers organized for work conditions in particular, such as need for more frequent breaks. Workers have leaked Amazon manager training videos about discouraging labor organization. In response to changes following Amazon's 2017 acquisition of grocery Whole Foods, workers began to organize as Whole Worker.[7] The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union began to organize 2,500 workers from Amazon's Staten Island warehouse in December 2018, but this did not result in a union vote.[8][9]

When other businesses shut down during COVID-19 pandemic safety measures, the welfare and salary of workers ensuring the delivery of goods, including Amazon's labor, received renewed attention. Amazon workers, amid increased demand, advocated for pay increases and safety measures through work stoppage including walkouts and not appearing for work. Amazon increased pay for warehouse, transportation, delivery, and store workers and increased paid time off. Some workers described these concessions as a minimum for convincing employees to risk working during the pandemic. Amazon responded to worker activism by increasing anti-union propaganda, firing organizers, hiring Pinkertons, and surveilling its workers. In December 2020, the National Labor Relations Board found merit to a complaint that a Staten Island warehouse worker's firing was an illegal retaliation for organizing for pandemic safety procedure.

Chester union drive

In 2016, Amazon stopped a unionization drive in Chester, Virginia. Organizers were derided as "a cancer" to the workplace and some human resources officials were accused of tracking employee positions on the drive. The union filed a complaint and Amazon settled with the National Labor Relations Board, agreeing to post notices but not having to concede legal violations or fines. Most of the union supporters left.[10]

Bessemer union drive

Amazon opened a fulfillment warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, in March 2020. Within several months, workers began organizing to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Bessemer warehouse workers filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) in November to hold a unionization vote. The bargaining unit was originally proposed as 1,500 full-time and part-time employees.[11] The workers, who are 85% Black, were inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement.[12] Amazon fought the effort hard. The company retained anti-union lawyers Morgan, Lewis & Bockius, the same firm Amazon used to successfully fight the Delaware warehouse unionization effort in 2014.[13] The NLRB denied the company's request to delay initial hearings. Amazon recommended expanding the bargaining unit to 5,700 workers, and in a three-day NLRB hearing, lawyers from Amazon and the union established a broader bargaining unit membership than originally proposed, including seasonal hires and on-site medical, safety, and training workers. These were common tactics to discourage unionization, as a larger bargaining unit would dilute the union's penetration, having only organized a portion of the originally proposed, smaller unit. The union accepted the expanded unit to let the vote proceed sooner. During the drive, Amazon held mandatory meetings to hear the company's anti-union position and hung signage to discourage unionization.

The union drive received outward support from American politicians including U.S. Representatives Andy Levin, Jamaal Bowman, Cori Bush, Terri Sewell, Nikema Williams and US Senator Bernie Sanders, among many others. President Joe Biden alluded to the Alabama drive in a contemporaneous speech in support of unions.[14] Biden gave stronger support than any president has given unions in decades, and labor activists said his advocacy would build his support in the working class, fighting off Republican inroads there.[15] During the drive, the RWDSU reported interest from a thousand Amazon workers across the United States.[16]

Mail-in ballots were distributed on February 8, 2021, after the NLRB rejected Amazon's attempt to delay the vote.[17] Ballots were due by March 29[18] to be counted on April 8 and 9.[19] The vast majority voted against unionization: 1,798 to 738. Of about 6,000 eligible employees, about 40% had participated. An additional 505 ballots were contested and left sealed, not being numerous enough in count to sway the final tally.

The RWDSU filed unfair labor practice charges against Amazon before the NLRB, alleging that the company interfered in employees' right to "vote in a free and fair election".[20][21] Their largest contention concerned potential worker intimidation based on the location of a ballot box. Amazon originally proposed on-site ballot boxes, which the NLRB rejected as giving the appearance that Amazon controlled the vote and potentially intimidating workers to not oppose the company's position. Instead, the United States Postal Service (USPS) approved a mailbox in the Bessemer warehouse's parking lot. Top-level management from Amazon and USPS were involved in the request, as Amazon strongly wanted employees to use this mailbox. After the USPS denied Amazon permission to add signage to the mailbox itself, Amazon built a tent around the mailbox to add its own signage calling attention to the mailbox as a place to vote. Amazon intended the tent to protect voter privacy, but the parent union held that the tent made the mail-in vote appear to be under company surveillance and control, rather than by the independent NLRB. Separately, an employee testified to having seen company security guards open the mailbox. Amazon said their access was limited to incoming mailboxes. RWDSU had known about the mailbox in advance of the vote and chose to proceed. Former NLRB chair Wilma B. Liebman said that the mailbox contention is "strong grounds for overturning the election".[22]

After Bessemer

The Bessemer union drive inspired a peer-organized poll of Amazon delivery drivers (Delivery Service Partners, or DSP), in which the vast majority of its 500 respondents showed interest in unionizing. Amazon's 158,000 DSP drivers are subcontracted across 2,500 companies spanning eight countries, such that Amazon can drop any one provider whose workers unionize. One DSP provider's Michigan office closed within a month of its workers voting to organize. Amazon supplies subcontracted companies with financing and surveillance technology to track driver movements in real time. The subcontracted companies, in turn, handle workplace management and liability, insulating Amazon.[23] After the Michigan example, Amazon advised other DSP firms on how to avoid union drives, which proved successful through early 2021.[24]

In the first 12 months of the pandemic, 37 labor complaints have been filed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), more than triple the prior year and multiple cases involving labor organizers. One complaint concerned an employee who organized a walkout over pandemic working conditions in a Queens, New York, warehouse. The employee, a co-founder of Amazonians United, was interrogated and accused of harassment. The NLRB filed a federal complaint against Amazon after finding merit to the worker's claims of company retaliation for protected activities. In another case, the NLRB sided with a Pennsylvania warehouse worker who had lobbied for sick pay for part-time employees. She settled with Amazon and withdrew her complaint. The increase in cases reflects rising activism among Amazon warehouse workers.[25]

The warehouse worker firings led to public acts of solidarity from some Amazon corporate employees. Two user experience designers were fired for violating internal policies in April 2020. Tim Bray, a vice president of Amazon Web Services resigned in response based on the handling of their case.

Following the failed drive, the major labor union Teamsters resolved with near unanimity to organize Amazon warehouse and delivery workers as a central focus.[26][27]

2021 Amazon Labor Union Solidarity Fund

2,000 Amazon warehouse workers on Staten Island have signed a call for unionization led by an independent & self-organized worker group, the Amazon Labor Union. The unionization push is targeting four Amazon facilities in the Staten Island cluster, which are estimated to employ over 7,000 people[28] the ALU has also set up a solidarity fund to support efforts to unionize workers.[29][30]

Europe

Some Amazon warehouses in Europe are unionized. Amazon, and other American technology companies with philosophies against organized labor, are scrutinized for operating counter to European norms. European criticism of Amazon's labor practices exceeds that of its practices in the United States. Members of European Parliament have criticized Amazon's involvement with its European worker organization. In 2021, the European Parliament asked Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos to testify on issues of workers' rights and unions. Amazon employs an intelligence team to monitor its European warehouse employees.[31]

In France during the COVID-19 pandemic, unions were involved in setting the terms of warehouse workers returning to work, including pandemic protections for workers, following a month-long dispute. Those who volunteered to return sooner, in a reduced capacity, received bonus pay and a reduced work day.[32]

Italy

Amazon opened its first Fulfillment Center in Piacenza, Italy in 2011.[33][34] The first two industrial strikes happened later in 2017, which resulted in collective bargaining with Amazon management.[35] One year later, the May 2018 collective bargaining agreement between Amazon and the Italian Federation of Commerce, Hotel and Service Workers (Filcams CGIL) trade union, with 70% of voters in favor, was the company's first collective agreement anywhere in the world.[36][37]

On March 22, 2021, Amazon workers across the supply chain organized the first nation wide strike in Amazon's history, including warehouse, logistics and subcontracted delivery workers.[34][38][39]

Germany

Germany is Amazon's largest market outside of the United States as of 2019.[40][41] Amazon opened its first German logistic center in 1999 (FRA1) followed by FRA3 in 2009 in Bad Hersfeld.[42] Hundreds of Amazon warehouse workers in Leipzig and Bad Hersfeld, organized by the trade union Ver.di went on strike in 2013 over their worker classifications and salaries. Amazon subsequently improved overtime schedules, break rooms, and introduced Christmas bonuses.[43][44][45] Amazon confirmed it would be opening three logistics centers in Poland.[44][46]

Workers in multiple Amazon warehouses went on strike for better pay and working conditions during the company's June 2021 Prime Day.[47]

Poland

Amazon opened its first logistics centers near the Polish cities Poznań and Wrocław in September 2014. While operating in Poland, they primarily serve foreign markets, notably Germany.[48] There are two trade unions involved in organizing Amazon workers. The more militant union is Inicjatywa Pracownicza (Workers' Initiative) is active in Poznań. They are criticized by the more mainstream and established Polish union Solidarność (which is affiliated with UNI Global Union) as being 'too radical'.[48][49] During a German strike in 2015, due to Poland's geographic proximity to Germany, orders shifted and increased in Poland. Several dozen workers in Poznań facility engaged in a work slowdown.[50] Shortly afterwards, Amazon increased the hourly wage by one złoty.[49]

United Kingdom

Amazon arrived in the UK in 1998.[51] It is the 2nd largest market in Europe after Germany.[52] In 2001, 80% of workers at the Milton Keynes Fulfillment Center (ALT1) voted against unionising with Graphical, Paper and Media Union,[52] which the union partly blames on union busting.[53][54] Since 2020, GMB is the main union responsible for organising Amazon warehouse workers in the UK.[52]

Climate change

Amazon employees have led tech worker activism on environmental issues.[55] In 2019, 7,500 Amazon workers supported a shareholder proposal for the company to create a climate change plan. Shareholders voted it down.[56] In advance of a tech industry walkout to protest inaction towards climate change, Amazon announced a plan for new electric delivery vans. Workers, seeking bolder action, proceeded with their walkout. Amazon fired two Amazon Employees for Climate Justice organizers in 2020 for violating company policy of speaking about the company. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) found that these firings were illegal and retaliatory. About 600 Amazon workers signed a 2021 petition to reach net zero pollution by 2030.

References

  1. ↑ Colin Lecher (2020-12-29). "Amazon's 2020 Was a Banner Year for Profits—and for Criticism" The Markup. Archived from the original on 2022-12-06.
  2. ↑ Casey Newton (2020-04-01). "Amazon's poor treatment of workers is catching up to it during the coronavirus crisis" The Verge. Archived from the original on 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  3. ↑
    “Making hiring matters worse for Amazon is the fact that it has faced a steady onslaught of bad press in recent months about its labor practices both in the US and beyond.”

    Louise Matsakis (2018-10-02). "Why Amazon Really Raised Its Minimum Wage to $15" Wired. Archived from the original on 2021-01-07. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  4. ↑
    “Amazon, which is responsible for more than one-third of e-commerce volumes in the U.S., has long faced complaints from warehouse workers about working conditions and their position in the employee hierarchy. The company, which is the nation's second-largest employer, in recent years has taken steps to boost hourly wages and improve employee-training opportunities.”

    Dana Mattioli, Sebastian Herrera (2020-03-21). "Amazon Struggles to Find Its Coronavirus Footing. 'It's a Time of Great Stress.'" The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on 2021-01-01. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  5. ↑ Annie Palmer (2020-12-22). "Amazon moves closer to facing its first unionization vote in six years" CNBC. Archived from the original on 2021-01-01. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  6. ↑ Steven Greenhouse (2014-01-16). "Workers at an Amazon Warehouse Reject Forming a Union" The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  7. ↑ Michael Sainato (2019-01-01). "'We are not robots': Amazon warehouse employees push to unionize" The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2020-11-11. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  8. ↑ Natalie Kitroeff (2019-02-15). "Amazon and New York Unions Had 'Productive Meeting,' Then Came a Shock" The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-01-18. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  9. ↑ Michael Corkery, Karen Weise (2020-12-22). "Amazon Workers Near Vote on Joining Union at Alabama Warehouse" The New York Times. Archived from the original on 2021-01-01. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  10. ↑ Andrew Ross Sorkin, Jason Karaian, Michael J. de la Merced, Lauren Hirsch, Ephrat Livni (2021-03-16). "‘There Was No Mercy’" The New York Times.
  11. ↑ Jay Greene (2020-11-23). "Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama file to hold unionization vote" The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2020-11-26. Retrieved 2020-11-26.
  12. ↑ "A union takes on a retail Goliath" (2021-03-07). The Week. Archived from the original on March 16, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  13. ↑ Jay Greene (2020-12-02). "Amazon effort to thwart Alabama union drive suffers early defeat at labor board" The Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2020-12-06. Retrieved 2020-12-06.
  14. ↑ Daniel Medina, Nandita Bose (2021-03-06). "'No sense of job security': Amazon union organizers tell lawmakers in Alabama" Reuters. Archived from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  15. ↑ Sean Sullivan (2021-04-10). "Biden took a chance in promoting the Amazon union push. What does its failure mean for him?" Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2021-04-14. .
  16. ↑ Greg Norman (March 9, 2021). "Union organizing Amazon Alabama employees sought by 1,000+ colleagues in other states" FOXBusiness. Archived from the original on March 21, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  17. ↑ Jason Slotkin (February 7, 2021). "In Alabama, Workers At Amazon Warehouse Are Poised For Union Vote" National Public Radio. Archived from the original on February 8, 2021.
  18. ↑ "Alabama warehouse workers prepare to face down Amazon in union vote" (2021-02-08). The Verge. Archived from the original on 2021-02-08. Retrieved 2021-02-09.
  19. ↑ "It's A No: Amazon Warehouse Workers Vote Against Unionizing In Historic Election". Archived from the original on 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2021-04-09.
  20. ↑ Jason Del Rey (2021-04-08). "Amazon has won a historic warehouse union election. But the battle is not over." Vox. Archived from the original on 2021-04-10. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  21. ↑ Jay Greene. "Union appears headed toward defeat in Amazon vote in Alabama" Washington Post. Archived from the original on 2021-04-09. Retrieved 2021-04-10.
  22. ↑ Sara Morrison (2021-05-21). "How a mailbox could get the Amazon union vote overturned" Vox. Archived from the original on June 2, 2021.
  23. ↑ "Some Amazon Drivers Have Had Enough. Can They Unionize?" (March 19, 2021). Archived from the original on March 20, 2021.
  24. ↑ Caroline O'Donovan, Ken Bensinger (August 31, 2019). "The Cost of Next-Day Delivery: How Amazon Escapes The Blame For Its Deadly Last Mile" BuzzFeed News. Archived from the original on March 20, 2021. Retrieved March 21, 2021.
  25. ↑ Olivia Solon, April Glaser (March 30, 2021). "Amazon warehouse organizers allege year of retaliation" NBC News. Archived from the original on June 7, 2021. Retrieved June 20, 2021.
  26. ↑ Sebastian Herrera (2021-06-24). "Teamsters Union Votes to Help Organize Amazon Workers" Wall Street Journal.
  27. ↑ Musadiq Bidar (June 24, 2021). "Teamsters vow to unionize Amazon from "coast to coast"" CBS News. Retrieved 2021-07-14.
  28. ↑ Reddit post on r/ClassPoliticsTwitter
  29. ↑ ALU on Twitter
  30. ↑ ALU Solidarity Fund on GoFundMe
  31. ↑ Lauren Kaori Gurley (2021-05-11). "European Lawmakers Ask Jeff Bezos to Testify About Union-Busting" Vice Motherboard. Archived from the original on May 12, 2021. Retrieved 2021-06-18.
  32. ↑ Mathieu Rosemain (2020-05-18). "Amazon's French warehouses to reopen with 30% staff - unions" Reuters. Archived from the original on August 20, 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  33. ↑ Day One Team (2020-02-11). "Amazon starts the year of its 10th anniversary in Italy by opening two new fulfillment centers that will create 1.400 permanent jobs" About Amazon EU. Archived from the original on 2022-09-26. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
  34. ↑ 34.0 34.1 Francesco Massimo (March 23, 2021). "Italy’s Amazon Strike Shows How Workers Across the Supply Chain Can Unite" Jacobin. Archived from the original on 2023-01-02. Retrieved 2023-01-31.
  35. ↑ Jake Alimahomed-Wilson, Ellen Reese (2020). The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in the Global Economy: '8 A Struggle for Bodies and Souls: Amazon Management and Union Strategies in France and Italy' (pp. 129–144). Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-4148-4 doi: 10.2307/j.ctv16zjhcj [HUB]
  36. ↑ Michael Walker. "Tech innovators start to see old-fashioned benefits of collective bargaining" The Conversation. Archived from the original on 2019-11-13. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  37. ↑ "Historic agreement between Amazon and sector unions" (2018-05-25). UNI Global Union. Archived from the original on 2021-02-12. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  38. ↑ "Amazon workers in Italy go on strike" (2021-03-22). Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
  39. ↑ Angela Giuffrida (2021-03-22). "Italians urged to boycott Amazon to support day of strikes" The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-07-20.
  40. ↑ Grace Dobush (2018-07-11). "How Amazon is steamrolling Germany's retail market" Handelsblatt. Archived from the original on November 11, 2020. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  41. ↑ "In 4 years, India will be one of the biggest markets for Amazon - Latest News" (August 29, 2019). Gadgets Now. Archived from the original on January 16, 2021.
  42. ↑ "Bad Hersfeld, Germany". amazon.jobs. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  43. ↑ Nick Wingfield, Melissa Eddy (August 4, 2013). "In Germany, Union Culture Clashes With Amazon's Labor Practices" Archived from the original on 2020-12-24. Retrieved 2020-12-31.
  44. ↑ 44.0 44.1 Josie Le Blond (2013-10-25). "German Amazon workers strike in long-running dispute over pay" The Guardian. Archived from the original on 2021-06-04. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  45. ↑ Chris Bryant (2013-04-05). "Amazon workers in Leipzig vote to strike" Financial Times. Archived from the original on 2018-05-28. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  46. ↑ "Online retailer Amazon to open three facilities in Poland" (2013-10-07). Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 2017-10-12. Retrieved 2021-01-01.
  47. ↑ "Germany: Verdi calls on Amazon staff to strike for three days" (2021-06-07). Deutsche Welle. Archived from the original on 2021-06-21. Retrieved 2021-06-23.
  48. ↑ 48.0 48.1
  49. ↑ 49.0 49.1 Jake Alimahomed-Wilson, Immanuel Ness (2018). Choke Points: Logistics Workers Disrupting the Global Supply Chain. Pluto Press. ISBN 9781786802347 [LG]
  50. ↑ Amazon Strikes in Europe:: Seven Years of Industrial Action, Challenges, and Strategies (2020) (pp. 209–224). Amazon in the Global Economy. Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-7453-4148-4 doi: 10.2307/j.ctv16zjhcj.20 [HUB]
  51. ↑ [amazonuk.gcs-web.com "History & Timeline | Amazon UK"]. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  52. ↑ 52.0 52.1 52.2 Jörn Boewe, Johannes Schulten, Jake Alimahomed-Wilson (ed), Ellen Reese (ed) (2020). The Cost of Free Shipping: Amazon in the Global Economy: '13 Amazon Strikes in Europe: Seven Years of Industrial Action, Challenges, and Strategies' (pp. 209-224). Pluto Press. doi: 10.2307/j.ctv16zjhcj.20 [HUB]
  53. ↑ Kevin Maguire (2001-09-11). "Amazon accused in row over ballot" The Guardian.
  54. ↑ Simon Bowers (2014-07-01). "Amazon's rise in Europe to be discussed by union leaders at Berlin meeting" The Guardian. Retrieved 2021-07-21.
  55. ↑ Justine Calma (2021-05-25). "Amazon workers demand company quit polluting near communities of color" Archived from the original on 2021-06-02. Retrieved 2021-06-20.
  56. ↑ Emily Stewart (2019-05-22). "8,000 Amazon employees asked the company to do more on climate change. Shareholders just said no." Vox. Archived from the original on 2021-05-25. Retrieved 2021-06-20.

Further reading

External links

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