Amazon failed to blockade ahistoricfirst of its genial unionization movement at a Staten Island fulfillment nitty-gritty despite documents showing it was consider spending up to $ 100,000 per calendar month on anti - union consultants to stamp out it .
New Amazon documents filed with the U.S. The Department of Labor suggests the company engaged advisor for a charge per unit of up to $ 20,000 per workweek in an strong-growing sweat to persuade workers to abandon unionization try . The documents were firstspottedby Insider on Tuesday , and werepostedon Twitter by Director of the Project on State and Local Enforcement at the Harvard Law School Labor and Worklife Program Terri Gerstein .
From Oct 24 , 2021 . 6/13pic.twitter.com / yf2JAiIDZ9
Photo: Oli Scarff (Getty Images)
— Terri Gerstein ( @TerriGerstein)April 17 , 2022
One of the documents , dated October 24 , 2021 , seems to be a missive exchange between Amazon and labor consulting firmLev Labor LLC . The letter appear to detail weekly earnings for five Lev consultants who were “ being lease to represent the sake of Amazon relative to task matters at its Staten Island , New York facilities . ” According to the letter , each in use consultant would meet at least $ 400 per hour working a minimum of six hours per twenty-four hours . Once meals and travel are factored in , each single advisor should expect to receive between $ 17,000 and $ 20,000 per week for their services grant to the letter . Amazon would have had to pay Lev between $ 85,000 and $ 100,000 per week to pay for the five advisor .
In a bio on Lev ’s website , President and CEO Katie Lev is identify as have experience managing numerous organizing campaigns involving “ quick fix election , ” postal service ballots , decertifications , neutrality concord and even a hungriness strike .
“ Whether you just received your first request , have multiple mature contracts , or are facing a corporate campaign , we ’re your partner for all your unification issues , ” Lev read on its website .
Neither Amazon nor Lev Labor responded to Gizmodo ’s requests for comment . It ’s unclear if their deal expire through .
Amazon ’s anti - union chequebook expands far beyond Staten Island . Department of Labor fillingsspottedby HuffPo last calendar month reportedly show Amazon allegedly paid anti - Federal advisor a total of $ 4.3 million in 2021 . That figure of speech overshadow money spent by most of the country ’s biggest anti - union spendersaccording toa late Economic Policy Institute depth psychology .
Amazon ’s ostensibly allergic reaction when it comes to dealing with union reaches all the way up to the top . In a leaked recording of an all hands contact this weekobtainedby The Verge , CEO Andy Jassy spoke out against unions , arguing they could potentially slow down production and disempower employees . “One of the thing that ’s unique about Amazon is that we have unusual authorisation for our employee , ” Jassy reportedly said . “ If they see something they can do well for customers — or just for themselves — to get together , get in a room , decide to change it , and switch it , and do it quickly . We boost that type of hurrying . You cognise , you ’re part of the union it ’s much slower and much more bureaucratic , much harder to do that . ”With that thought , Jassy follow in the footsteps of his former boss Jeff Bezos , who was ill-famed for his at timesaggressiveanti - join stances .
Though the huge amount Amazon was consider spending to quash the Amazon Labor Union was , until now , unknown , workers at both The Bessemer , Alabama storage warehouse and JFK8 have reappeared cited claim of anti - union hinderance . In the weeks leading up to the JFK8 vote , workers told The City theyattendedanti - union meeting they consider were mandatory . The employees reported seeing anti - union literature posted throughout the readiness . Several months prior to that , the National Labor Relations Board charge acomplaintaccusing Amazon of interrogate and surveilling worker in Staten Island . One consultant mentioned in the ailment allegedly denote to sum organizers as “ tough . ” At the time Amazon rebut those accusations which they described as “ false . ”
Gizmodo talk with one Amazon Labor Union Organizer Tristian Martinez who say he did n’t in person see any instances of intimidation or interference during the JFK8 vote but articulate he conceive manager had made workers feel like they were required to vote even though they are not .
It ’s potential Amazon ’s already powerful spending on anti unionisation efforts will only increase this year as more warehouses conceive come the Staten Island workers ’ impulse . Just this workweek , around 25 % of workers in a small New Jersey facilityreportedlyshowed interest in form a uniting . peculiarly , the proletariat group wait torepresentthose worker withdrew their petition one day later under unclear circumstances . Elsewhere in the working class tech sphere , Apple retail worker in Atlanta became thefirstto single file for a union election this week .
AmazonAndy JassyJeff BezosLabor relationsPetitionUnion busting
Daily Newsletter
Get the good tech , science , and culture news in your inbox daily .
newsworthiness from the future , delivered to your nowadays .
Please select your desired newssheet and put in your email to upgrade your inbox .
You May Also Like
