Two viral videos making the rounds online appear to show a supervisor at Amazon confiscating union literature left out by employees.
The footage, which was posted to Twitter last week, was reportedly recorded at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York.
Shared by the Coalition to Defend Amazon Workers (CDAW), the two videos appear to provide an inside look at unionization efforts among certain Amazon employees. They were also shared to TikTok.
“Here is video of a typical day of illegal union-busting practiced @amazon in Staten Island,” the CDAW wrote. “Yesterday the Company confiscated union literature from an employee break room a violation of federal labor law.”
The CDAW, which says it has since filed charges, stated that the first video showed an Amazon employee catching a supervisor removing union literature from a break room. The supervisor can be seen putting the papers back following the back-and-forth.
The second video purports to show the same supervisor returning 20 minutes later to once again take the literature from off of the break room table.
The Daily Dot reached out to Amazon to inquire about the allegations but did not hear back by press time.
Twitter users were quick to criticize the supervisor over her alleged actions.
“She’s getting paid pennies to undermine fellow workers,” one user wrote.
Seth Lewis Goldstein, an ACLU lawyer working pro bono on behalf of the unionization effort, told the Daily Dot that they filed charges against Amazon in response to the videos.
“That was another of dozens of instances of Amazon violating federal labor law,” Goldstein said. “This is labor charge 41. Amazon is a flagrant violator of labor law.”
Nonetheless, just last Friday at the warehouse known as JFK8 in Staten Island, workers began voting on whether to join the Amazon Labor Union. The results will be determined after the voting ends on Wednesday.
Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, attempted to unionize last spring but ultimately failed. Yet a revote has been ordered due to reports of “improper interference.”
Amazon is just one of several large companies to face calls for unionization. Starbucks likewise has faced growing calls from employees seeking to be represented by a union.
Source: https://www.dailydot.com/debug/amazon-supervisor-confiscates-union-literature-tiktok/
