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SEATTLE – Amazon facing off increased scrutiny on workers’ rightsagreed this month to allow warehouse workers to organize more easily in the workplace as part of a nationwide agreement with the National Labor Relations Board.
Under the deal, which was finalized Wednesday, Amazon said it would email notices of their entitlements to former and current warehouse workers — possibly more than a million — giving them more flexibility to organize in their premises. This agreement It also made it easier and faster for the NLRB, which investigates allegations of unfair labor practices, to sue Amazon if it believes the company is violating terms.
Amazon has previously settled individual cases with its employment agency, but the new deal’s national scope and organizational concessions go beyond any previous deal.
Because of Amazon’s size—more than 750,000 people work in its operations in the United States alone—the agency said the deal would reach one of the largest groups of workers in its history. The tech giant also agreed to terms that would allow the NLRB to bypass an administrative hearing process, a lengthy and cumbersome commitment, should the agency find that the company is not complying with the agreement.
The deal stemmed from six Amazon workers who said the company was limiting their ability to organize their colleagues. A copy was received by The New York Times.
“It’s a big deal, given the size of Amazon,” said Wilma B. Liebman, head of the NLRB under former President Barack Obama.
the Amazon, hiring spree in the pandemic and Walmart, the country’s second-largest private employer has faced increasing workforce pressure as its workforce has grown to nearly 1.5 million worldwide. As the pandemic reshapes workers’ expectations of their employers, the company has become a leading example of a rising wave of worker organizing.
This year, Amazon grappled with organizational efforts. warehouses in Alabama and the Fellowship of New York and International Teamsters formally committed support organization in the company. other companies such as Starbucks, Kellogg and Deere & Companyalso faced increased trade union activities.
Combining the problem, Amazon is struggling to find enough employees to saturate its growth. The company is built on a model. high turnover employment, which crashed into a phenomenon now known as the Great ResignationWorkers in many industries have left their jobs in search of a better deal for themselves.
Amazon responded by increasing fees and promising to improve the workplace. told 4 billion dollars will be spent only to deal with labor shortages this quarter.
“This settlement agreement makes a substantial commitment from Amazon to its millions of workers in the United States that it will not interfere with their right to collectively act to improve their workplaces by forming a union or taking other collective action,” said Jennifer Abruzzo of the NLRB. The new general counsel appointed by President Biden, he announced on Thursday.
Amazon declined to comment. The company said it supports workers’ right to organize, but believes workers are better served without a union.
Amazon and the employment agency are increasingly in touch and at times conflicted. more than 75 cases allegation of unfair labor practices According to the NLRB’s database, they’ve been brought up against Amazon since the start of the pandemic. Ms. Abruzzo also issued several memos urging agency staff to more aggressively enforce labor laws against employers.
agency last month scored the results An unsuccessful leading union election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama, saying the company improperly interfered with the vote. The labor board ordered another selection. Amazon didn’t dispute the finding, but it can still do so.
Other employers, from beauty parlors to retirement communities, have had nationwide deals with the NLRB in the past as they changed policies.
With the new deal, Amazon has agreed to change the nationwide 15-minute rule and notify employees that it’s doing this, as well as informing them about other worker rights. The agreement requires Amazon to post notifications across all of its US operations and its A-to-Z employee app. Amazon should also email anyone who has worked in its operations since March.
In past cases, Amazon has made it clear that the settlement does not constitute an admission of wrongdoing. No similar language was included in the new settlement. In September, Ms Abruzzo instructed NLRB staff to seldom accept these “disclaimer terms”.
Ms. Liebman added that the combination of terms, including the “unusual” commitment to email past and current employees, made Amazon’s deal stand out and other large employers would likely consider it.
“It gives a signal that the attorney general is really serious about enforcing the law and what they’re going to accept,” he said.
The six lawsuits that led to Amazon’s settlement with the agency involved its employees in Chicago and Staten Island, NY. They said Amazon forbids them from being in areas such as break rooms or parking lots until 15 minutes before or after their shift. inhibition of any organizing ability.
A lawsuit was brought by Ted Miin, who worked at an Amazon distribution station in Chicago. In an interview, Mr. Miin said that while distributing newsletters at a protest in April, a manager told him, “It’s been more than 15 minutes since your shift and you’re not allowed to be here.”
“Co-workers were upset about staff shortages and overwork and staged a strike,” he said, adding that a security guard also pressured him to leave the field while handing out flyers.
In another Staten Island case, attorney Seth Goldstein, who represents the company’s employees in Staten Island, said that an employee of Amazon who was distributing union publications on-site threatened to call the police.
The right of workers to organize on-site outside of working hours, well establishedMatthew Bodie, a former attorney for the NLRB, currently teaches business law at Saint Louis University.
“Being able to hang around and chat – these are periods of top-notch, protected concerted activity, and the board has always been very protective about it,” he said.
Miin and other workers in Chicago, who are part of an organizational group called Amazonians United Chicagoland, reached A deal with Amazon in the spring on the 15-minute rule at a different delivery station they worked at last year. In addition, two company employees ingrained Exclusively with Amazon in a deal that includes a nationwide workers’ rights notice, but not overseen by the agency.
Mr Goldstein said he was “impressed” by the NLRB to pressure Amazon to accept terms that would allow it to bypass the administrative hearing process, which takes place before a judge, where the parties prepare arguments and present evidence if it finds the company is in breach of contract. terms of the agreement.
“They can get a court order to ensure Amazon complies with federal labor law.”
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