Amazon workers face “anti-union propaganda” in Garner, North Carolina

Italo Medelius Marsano was a law student at North Carolina Central University in 2022. Amazon Earn extra cash in a warehouse near the city of Raleigh.

The past month has been different from others during his three-year tenure at the company. Now, when he appears on a shift at the transport dock, Medelius Marsano meets the TV he has mounted with flyers, urges him to “no vote” and leads to the anti-union website. He says he prompted the code. During the meeting, managers block unionization.

Located outside of Garner, North Carolina, the facility employs around 4,700 workers and is the site of Amazon's latest labor measures. Site workers are voted this week on whether to join Carolina Amazon United for solidarity and empowerment, a grassroots union made up of current and former employees.

The organizers launched the group in 2022 to raise wages and improve working conditions. Voting on the site known as RDU1 will close on Saturday.

Workers at RDU1 and other facilities told CNBC that Amazon is increasingly using digital tools to stop employees from unionization. This includes messages through the company app and workstation computer. Also comes with automated software and handheld package scanners It is used to track the performance of employees in the warehouse, so the company knows when staff are working and doing other things.

Amazon said it doesn't have to meet a specific productivity rate or target.

“You can't escape or be monitored from anti-union propaganda. Once you step into work, you'll find cameras all over the building. “You can get a job without scanning badges or logging in to your machine.” You can't. That's how we can track you.”

The representative of the cause also scored a pitch for RDU1 employees. The association set up “Cafe HQ” tents across the street from the warehouse and spent leaflets in the facility's restroom.

Amazon, the country's second largest private employer, has long sought to keep unions away from its ranks. This strategy was successful in the United States until 2022, when workers in a Staten Island warehouse voted to join the Amazon Workers Union. Last month, workers at Whole Foods Store in Philadelphia voted to join the United Food and Commercial Worker Union.

In December, Amazon delivery and warehouse workers at nine facilities began a strike organized by Teamsters during the holiday shopping season and pushed the company to the negotiation table. The strike ended on Christmas Eve. Amazon said it would not affect the company's operations.

Union elections at other Amazon warehouses in New York have been defeated in recent years, but the outcome of Union Drive at Alabama facilities is under contest. Organizers point to nearly constant monitoring of Amazon's employees as both a catalyst and a deterrent for union campaigns.

The NLRB has 343 open or resolved unfair labor practice claims filed with the agency against Amazon, its subsidiaries and U.S. contract distribution companies, a spokesperson said.

Amazon claims in its legal declaration that NLRBs are unconstitutional, complaining against companies or unions deemed to have violated labor laws. Elon Musk's SpaceX, Starbucks And Trader Joe also made similar claims that challenged the authority of the institution.

Amazon spokeswoman Iireen Hards said that its employees can choose whether to join the union. She added that Amazon offers the kind of wages and benefits that unions normally seek.

“We believe that both decisions need to be protected equally, so we can speak up with openness, openness, respectfully and actively share facts with our employees and we will provide information about them. to make informed decisions using “We can use the Hards statement.”

Hards said the company has not retaliated against employees for its union activities and claimed that employee surveillance would prevent the “strange” union from blocking it. She also challenged Medelius Marsano's claim that she was scanning Medelius Marsano's badges to track employees.

“Because this site is operating, employees are still expected to do their normal work,” Hards said in a statement. “In addition, facility camera technology is not intended to investigate employees. It helps guide the flow of products through the facility and ensure the security and safety of both employees and inventory.”

Orin Starn is the organizer of what caused Amazon employees to be fired by Amazon early last year for violating the company's drug and alcohol policy, known as tracking “labor algorithm management.” Stern is an anthropology professor at Duke University and began undercover investigation at RDU1 in 2023, conducting book research on Amazon.

“I would have come to the supervisors 100 years ago at the factory to tell them if the supervisors were lazy.

John Logan, professor and director of labor and employment research at San Francisco State University, said that Amazon “weapons of technology, workplace surveillance, algorithm management during anti-union campaigns” were more “weapons of technology, workplace surveillance, and algorithm management during the anti-union campaign. He told CNBC via email that he had “completed” the “transformation.” . ”

While Amazon may be more refined than others, “the use of data analytics is much more common in anti-union campaigns across the country,” Logan said. He added that it is “It is very common for businesses that try to improve working conditions or to pamper employees' perks during Union Drive.

Other scholars pay equally close attention to this issue. In a research paper published last week, Northwestern University doctoral candidate Teke Wiggin investigated the use of Amazon's algorithms and digital devices at the BHM1 warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.

“The black box and lack of accountability associated with algorithm management makes it difficult for workers and activists to determine whether they are being retaliated,” Wiggin said in an interview. “Maybe their schedules have changed a bit and the work is more difficult than before. Employers can say that it has nothing to do with us. It's just an algorithm. But the algorithm is I don't know if it's changed or not.”

Some Amazon employees see the situation differently. Storm Smith works as a process assistant at RDU1, including monitoring worker productivity and safety. In the process of reporting this story, Amazon introduced Smith to CNBC.

Amazon's workplace control is “part of the job,” including fees and after-hours tasks, Smith said. She added that staff members are “always welcome” to ask her what their rates are.

“For my people, if you see your rate isn't where it should be, I'll come up to you and say, “Hey, this is your rate, are you okay? Smith I said.

Wiggin interviewed 42 BHM1 employees following the first election in 2021 and reviewed the NLRB hearing records. The facility employed more than 5,800 workers as of Union Drive.

Last November, the NLRB ordered a third union vote on BHM1 after discovering that Amazon had inappropriately interfered in two previous elections. The company denied any fraud.

Amazon staff told Wiggin during the union campaign that the company would tweak some performance expectations to “improve working conditions” and discourage unionization. One employee said these changes were part of the reason he voted against the union.

Workers at an Amazon warehouse outside St. Louis, Missouri filed a NLRB complaint in May. Employees accused Amazon of using “intrusive algorithms” that track when they work to discourage organizing, the Guardian reported.

Employees retracted the complaint on Tuesday. Heard challenged the workers' claims.

Lawmakers have fallen to zero in how surveillance will affect organizing efforts in recent years. In 2022, a former NLRB general advisor issued a memo asking the group to address the company's use of “ubiquitous surveillance and other algorithm management tools” in order to disrupt organizing efforts. The following year, the Biden administration issued a request for information on monitoring and management of autoworkers, noting that the system could pose a risk to employees, including the “right to form or participate in unions.”

However, the Trump administration is trying to purge the NLRB, and the president fired the organisation's chairman on his first day last month. Trump has placed Musk, the union's infamous opponent, responsible for the so-called department of government efficiency, with the goal of cutting government costs and significantly reducing regulations.

One of the most direct ways Amazon can spread anti-union messages is by using the ATOZ app. This is an essential tool for everyday work.

This app is used by warehouse workers to access payroll stubs and tax forms, request schedule changes or leave times, post to “Associate Voice” message board, and communicate with HR.

Jennifer Bates, a well-known union organizer for BHM1, learned in 2023 that Amazon fired her through ATOZ. She later revived on Amazon “after a full review of her lawsuit,” and offered backpay, Hers said.

Retail, wholesale and department store unions that attempted to represent BHM1 workers say the ATOZ app can access users' GPS, photos, cameras, microphones and WiFi connection information. The union also argues that “Amazon can sell collected data to third-party companies and cannot delete that data.” The technology raises several concerns, including the possibility of suppressing the “right to organize,” Rwdsu said.

Hards said RWDSU's claims were inaccurate and denied that the company was selling data related to its use of ATOZ. She said ATOZ users must give the app permission to access GPS locations and more.

At the Garner facility, the ATOZ app has been smeared with “anti-union propaganda” since the RDU 1 election was announced last month, Medelius-Marsano said.

One ATOZ message suggests that employees' interests could be at risk if they vote in a union, but another cause is “a union” and “external party “They explained.

Kristen Tettemer, the leader of the RDU1 site, said that groups like the cause “can interfere with how we cooperate” and “it's very difficult to remove the union once.” I said it in my message. Smith said Amazon's response to Union Drive is focused on “it's telling you to come up with facts and do your research.”

Medelius-Marsano said everything will be an environment of intimidation.

“There is no doubt about that,” said Medelius Marsano. “If we lose, fear will be the reason.”

clock: How mask business benefits President Trump