Amazon settles a major labor complaint. Workers may now be able to unionize

Amazon settles with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to allow its workers to more easily organize union activity at the warehouse.

Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994.

Amazon settles a major labor complaint. Workers may now be able to unionize

One of the original names he picked for the company was — this is not a joke — “relentless.”

While good taste prevailed in the end, Amazon has pursued a relentless strategy in all facets of business…

… including against worker unionization

However, things may soon change after the company reached a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week, per NPR.

This result comes after Amazon warehouse workers — in 6 separate cases — told the board that the ecommerce giant was blocking union organizing efforts.

Amazon interference was a major talking point following a (failed) union vote at an Alabama warehouse last April.

The road to unionization?

According to NPR, Amazon will change its union stance by:

  • Emailing current and past employees (anyone who worked between March 2021 and now) about their right to organize
  • Creating more room for unionization activities within its buildings
  • Not threatening or disciplining workers for organizing in “exterior non-work areas during non-work time”

Further, the NLRB will have a straightforward path to suing Amazon if it doesn’t abide by this nationwide settlement.

Unions have been trending down for decades

Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 20% of US workers were union members in 1983. Today, it’s only 11%.

But, Amazon — with 750k employees — is a clear bellwether as the 2nd largest private employer in America after Walmart.

The settlement comes as workers at other companies (e.g., Kellogg’s, John Deere) have organized high-profile strikes, and could lead to relentless change for unionization in America.

Fun fact: Bezos still owns the URL to www.relentless.com and it redirects to… well, you can probably guess.

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Topics: Amazon

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