Amazon has reportedly fired more than half a dozen senior executives involved in a warehouse union in New York.
The layoffs, which took place outside the company’s employee review cycle, were seen as a response from Amazon’s Labor Union company, which formed on Staten Island last month in a “historic victory” against the country’s second-largest employer. York Times, citing former and current employees who spoke on condition of anonymity.
Most of the managers who were fired were responsible for fulfilling Amazon’s response to the union’s efforts, the New York Times reported. According to their LinkedIn profiles reviewed by the Times, some of the managers have been with the company for more than six years.
Amazon said the changes were made after assessing the warehouse’s “operations and leadership” for several weeks.
“Part of our culture at Amazon is to continually improve, and we believe it’s important to take the time to reconsider whether we’re doing the best we can for our team,” the spokesman said.
The managers were fired due to “organizational change”, two employees told the Times. One of them said that some of the managers had recently received positive feedback for their performance.
In April, Amazon workers at the Staten Island warehouse voted by a majority to form a union. The victory marked the first successful American organizing effort in the company’s history. Organizers have faced a tough battle against Amazon, which now employs more than a million people in the United States and is working hard to prevent unions.
Christian Smalls, head of the Amazon Labor Union, said on Twitter that he met with President Joe Biden shortly after he sharply criticized Amazon during his testimony at a Senate hearing Thursday.
Pro-union workers sought longer vacations, paid leave for injured employees and an hourly salary of $ 30, compared to a minimum of just over $ 18 an hour offered by the company. The expected average salary for the area is $ 41 per hour, according to a similar analysis by the U.S. Census Bureau of the average income of the Staten Island household of $ 85,381.
Amazon said it is investing in salaries and benefits, such as health care, 401 (k) plans and a prepaid college training program to help workers’ careers develop.
“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees,” a spokesman said after the union’s victory. “Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue to make Amazon a great place to work.”
Earlier this week, Amazon’s warehouse workers at Staten Island’s second warehouse overwhelmingly rejected a union offer, striking organizers who withdrew from Staten Island’s union last month.
Organizers said they lost some support in the warehouse after applying for elections in February because they focused more energy on the nearby facility, which voted to unite last month. There were also fewer organizers working at the facility, about 10, compared to nearly 30 employed at the Staten Island warehouse.
The same obstacles that plagued the effort for the first time, including Amazon’s aggressive tactics against unions, have resurfaced. On the eve of the election, Amazon continued to hold mandatory meetings to persuade its workers to reject the union’s efforts, published anti-union leaflets and launched a website urging workers to “vote NO”.
“ALU is currently trying to stand between us and you,” the website said in a statement. “They think they can do a better job of advocating for you than you do for yourself.
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