'Amazon's dismissal of employees was a retaliation for the labor movement,' the federal government decides

by Fibonacci Blue

On April 5, 2021, the US federal government's National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) dismissed two employees at its headquarters by Amazon 'to deal with the overwhelming labor movement.' It was decided that it was an unfair dismissal.

Amazon Illegally Fired Activist Workers, Labor Board Finds --The New York Times
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/04/05/technology/amazon-nlrb-activist-workers.html

Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa, who worked as designers at Amazon's Seattle headquarters, created an organization of employees called ' Amazon Employees for Climate Justice ' from around 2018 to correct Amazon's environmental efforts. I have been active. The organization filed a petition requesting Amazon to announce a comprehensive plan to address climate change around November 2018, and protested Amazon's pollution in September 2019. We have carried out large-scale activities such as announcing that we will strike with 15,500 employees.

15,500 Amazon employees protest global warming, CEO Jeff Bezos promises to order 100,000 electric trucks-GIGAZINE

Immediately after this strike statement, Amazon changed its policy for when employees engage in 'outside activities.' The change was to simplify the tedious process required to get approval for external activities, but at the same time it was to 'notify the Human Resources Department if the policy was not followed.' In October 2019, Amazon told Cunningham and others, 'Future activities may violate company policy. Publicly speaking about Amazon's business is a formal corrective action, including termination of employment. It may lead to. '

Nevertheless, Cunningham and his colleagues continued their activities, such as asking them to consider the safety of their Amazon warehouses as demand increased due to the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19). However, from March to April 2020, Amazon dismissed four people, including Mr. Cunningham and Mr. Costa, for 'repeated violations of the policy.' 'We support the rights of employees to criticize working conditions, but we do not find any violations of the policy,' said Jacey Anderson, an Amazon spokeswoman.

Democratic senators such as Elizabeth Warren and Kamala Harris expressed concern about the decision, questioning that 'Amazon may have retaliated against the activities of its employees' and asked for information. Was there. It has also led to a turmoil in which Tim Bray, vice president and senior engineer at Amazon Web Services, resigned in protest.

Amazon's heavyweight resigns because of disappointment of 'dismissal of employee protesting for improvement of new coronavirus countermeasures' --GIGAZINE

Following the NLRB's conclusion that 'Amazon's dismissal was unjustified,' Costa said, 'Speaking openly on serious issues should not be constrained by corporate rules, and this decision , Standing up and speaking proved to be a legitimate act. '

4 / Being able to speak up—and speak openly—about serious life / death issues should never be constrained by some corporate gag rule. The ruling today proves that it is not only necessary, but it is legal, to stand up and speak up when we see injustice in the workplace.

— Marencosta (@marencosta) April 6, 2021