The National Labor Relations Board Files Complaint Against Amazon For Refusal To Improve Work Conditions

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has filed a formal complaint against Amazon, citing the company’s refusal to bargain with a union representing its Staten Island warehouse workers.

According to Forbes, last year workers at the JFK8 warehouse voted to unionize to improve their working conditions. Amazon has since tried to invalidate the movement of the JFK8 employees by accusing the NLRB of interfering during the unionization drive and the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) of using scare tactics to elicit support. Amazon has yet to implement a contract approving the requests of the ALU.

As it stands, the Amazon Labor Union is the only certified union representing Amazon workers in the country, according to The New York Times. ALU’s president Christian Smalls has received prominent praise for his leadership and rebuke of labor practices at the world’s largest retailer.

However, dissenting opinions surrounding Smalls’ decisions have risen in recent months.

A group that calls itself the A.L.U Democratic Reform Caucus has argued that the union and Smalls have illegally refused to “hold officer elections which should have been scheduled no later than March 2023.”

The caucus cited an early version of the union’s constitution in which there was a promise to elect officers no more than 60 days after the NLRB certified its victory against Amazon. In December, however, leadership presented an updated constitution to the membership that postponed elections until after the union ratified a contract with Amazon; a move that could take many years or not happen at all.

Many see these internal conflicts as a costly display of weakness that could put a damper on the union’s chances of getting all they’ve asked for from Amazon.

“I am concerned that the apparent turmoil within the ALU E. Board means that little is being done to organize the workers and prepare for the battle with Amazon,” said Bill Fletcher Jr., a mediator brought in to help ease communications between the two groups.