(New York) A judge from the United States Labor and Employment Bureau (NLRB) has found that Amazon broke the law by threatening employees at two New York warehouses not to give raises or new benefits if the company had to enter into negotiations with a union.
In his decision dated Monday and seen by AFP on Tuesday, the judge found that company representatives had indeed illegally suggested that in the event of prolonged negotiations, unionized employees would see their wages frozen while non-unionized would receive raises and new benefits.
He ordered Amazon to post posters at the two affected warehouses reminding employees that they have the right to unionize and saying the company would no longer make similar threats.
The judge, however, dismissed several other charges against Amazon, including those claiming that company officials promised to address grievances submitted by employees or threatened to cut wages to pay union dues.
The company welcomed the judge’s rejection of these charges.
“The facts continue to show that the teams in our warehouses are working hard to do the right thing, and that most claims by outside groups seeking to make their point are baseless,” a spokeswoman said. in a message to AFP.
The employees of the JFK8 site, located in the Staten Island district of New York, had voted in the majority at the end of March 2022 to join the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), thus marking for the first time in the United States the arrival of a trade union in the company.
On the other hand, ALU had failed, a few weeks later, to convince the employees of the LDJ5 warehouse, located across the street, to vote in its favour.
For its part, Amazon is struggling to contest ALU’s first victory and quickly filed objections.
The NLRB already rejected the arguments put forward by management in early January and validated the vote, recalling that Amazon must now “negotiate in good faith”.
The company then indicated its intention to appeal.