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Amazon Fires Senior Executives at Unionized Staten Island Warehouse


After Amazon employees in a giant warehouse in Staten Island won a sad union victory last month, union leaders celebritiessent shock waves through the wider labor movement and mobilized the politicians Nationwide to rally behind Amazon workers. Now, it seems to have spawned fallout in Amazon’s management ranks as well.

On Thursday, Amazon reported that they had fired more than half a dozen senior executives involved with its Staten Island warehouse, according to four current and former employees who spoke out about the anonymity condition for fear of retaliation.

Three people said the layoffs, which occurred outside of the company’s typical employee review cycle, were seen by managers and others at the facility in response to the Amazon Labor Union’s victory. Workers in the warehouse voted by a wide margin establishing the first union in the company in the United States, in at least one of the greatest triumphs of organized labor in a generation.

News of the concussion spread through the warehouse on Thursday. Many of the executives were responsible for implementing the company’s response to unionization efforts. According to their LinkedIn profiles, many were veterans of the company with more than six years of experience.

Workers supporting the union complained that the company’s health and safety protocols were too lax, particularly as they pertained to Covid and repetitive strain injuries, and that the company was pushing them too hard to meet performance targets, often at the expense of adequate breaks. Many said the warehouse wage, which starts at $18 an hour for full-time workers, is too low to live in New York.

An Amazon spokesperson said the company made management changes after spending several weeks evaluating the “operations and leadership” aspects of the warehouse’s name, JFK8. โ€œPart of our culture at Amazon is to constantly evolve and we believe it’s important to take the time to review whether we’re doing our best for our team,โ€ said spokesperson Kelly Nantel.

Two people said executives were told they were fired as part of an “organizational change”. One person said that some of the executives are strong players that have received positive reviews recently.

The Staten Island facility is Amazon’s only New York City fulfillment center, and current and former workers at the facility for a year incipient, organized to form an independent union.

Company challenging the electionsaid the union’s unconventional tactics were compelling and that the National Labor Relations Board was biased in favor of the union. The union is working to keep the pressure on Amazon so it will negotiate a contract.

Christian Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union, He testified before a US Senate committee on Thursday. This was investigating whether companies that violated labor laws should be barred from federal contracts. Mr. Smalls later joined A meeting where the White House had with other labor organizers directly asked President Biden to pressure Amazon to recognize its union.

A White House spokesperson said it was up to the National Labor Relations Board to approve the results of the recent elections, but confirmed that Mr. Biden has long supported collective bargaining and workers’ right to unionize.

Amazon said it invested 300 million dollars He said he was only on security projects in 2021 and was providing full-time employees with solid fringe benefits such as healthcare as soon as they entered the company and pay above the minimum wage.

Company officials and consultants retained more than 20 mandatory meetings per day With the workers in the process leading up to the election, where they tried to persuade the workers not to support the union. Officials stressed the amount of money the union will collect from them and highlighted the uncertainty of collective bargaining, which they said could make workers worse.

Labor experts say It is highly unusual for such claims to be misleading because workers find their compensation dropped as a result of the union bargaining process.

This is a developing story. Check back for updates.

Grace Ashford contributed to the reporting and Sheelagh McNeill contributed to the research.



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