Amazon Could Fight Back The Formation Of Recently Formed Staten Island Union

Amazon is still not done battling labor unions, as it is now planning to contest the Staten Island Union's recent victory.

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The logo of US online retail giant Amazon is seen at the distribution center in Staten Island as workers strike in demand that the facility be shut down and cleaned after one staffer tested positive for the coronavirus on March 30, 2020 in New York. - Amazon employees at a New York City warehouse walk off the job March 30, 2020, as a growing number of delivery and warehouse workers demand better pay and protections in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic.

According to Engadget, the global e-commerce giant (which has had an extensive history of keeping the formation of unions in check) looks to object to the formation of an Amazon workers' union in their Staten Island warehouse. The company has revealed its intentions in a legal filing they released publicly last April 7th.

Amazon is said to have until April 22nd to file evidence proving that the union couldn't be allowed with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Among their objections, as per the original Engadget report, is an allegation that the union itself "threatened" employees into signing up.

But despite the contest from the Big Tech giant, Atty. Eric Milner (who represents the union) is confident that the case will be dismissed. He calls the plan to appeal "absurd," especially Amazon's allegations that the ALU threatened employees into unionizing. This could be a very ironic move from the company, considering they've been accused themselves of threatening workers to not form unions.

Early this year, Tech Times reported that according to the NLRB, Amazon threatened, interrogated, and surveilled its employees at the aforementioned New York warehouse in an attempt to discourage them from forming a union. The company was even said to have brought in a so-called "union avoidance consultant" into the warehouse, who told the people working there that choosing the union as their representative "will be futile."

Furthermore, Motherboard reported that the aforementioned consultant even called the union organizers "thugs," saying that this ensures their labor union won't ever be recognized.

Either way, there seems to be nothing stopping the United States' first Amazon workers union from being challenged by the e-commerce giant. This is a developing story.

Read Also: Amazon Illegally Fires Daequan Smith Because of Worker Unionization Attempt, Says US National Labor Board

Amazon And Its Multiple Attempts To Curb Unionization

As previously mentioned, the e-commerce giant has managed to keep labor unions from forming for almost three decades-ever since it was founded in 1994. And to do so, it had to employ some very draconian measures over the years.

(Photo : Sean Gallup/Getty Images)
A worker prepares packages for delivery at an Amazon warehouse on September 4, 2014 in Brieselang, Germany. Germany is online retailer Amazon's second largest market after the USA. Amazon is currently in a standoff with several book publishers over sales conditions and prices for e-books, and hundreds of authors in the US and Europe have written letters in support of the publishers.

There was one report from CNBC which said that the company was looking for analysts whose jobs will be to "track labor organizing threats." The job posting was eventually removed after massive public backlash, but it is far from the only method that the multibillion-dollar company employs.

Various reports of a so-called "Twitter Army Secret Group" defending founder Jeff Bezos and the company also surfaced last year. The group, which was formed "quietly" in 2018 under the codename "Veritas" (Latin word for "truth") had one job: defend Bezos and the company from criticisms alleging harsh working conditions.

Numerous US politicians, including Bernie Sanders and Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, have called the company out over these issues, voicing out their support:

Either way, Amazon still lost with the formation of the Staten Island union, and they want to do everything they can to ensure it doesn't prosper.

Related Article: Amazon Employee Chat App to Ban Tons of Words, Report Says | 'Restroom' Included?

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Written by RJ Pierce