Jan 21 (Reuters) – Amazon.com Inc might quickly face claims from a U.S. labor board that it unlawfully fired a vocal union supporter at a New York warehouse within the midst of an organizing marketing campaign.
A Nationwide Labor Relations Board (NLRB) official in Brooklyn lately discovered that claims involving the employee, Daequan Smith, had benefit and plans to problem a criticism in opposition to Amazon until the corporate settles the case, board spokeswoman Kayla Blado stated in an electronic mail on Friday.
The event was first reported by Bloomberg.
Amazon didn’t instantly reply to a request for remark.
A brand new criticism in opposition to Amazon would gas claims by labor organizers and advocacy teams that the corporate makes use of illegal ways to thwart unionizing whereas putting earnings over employee security.
In November, a NLRB official discovered that Amazon unlawfully interfered with a union election at an Alabama facility during which employees overwhelmingly voted in opposition to unionizing. The outcomes of a second election can be tallied on the finish of March.
Smith labored at an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, that’s the topic of a newer election petition by a gaggle of workers. A fundraising marketing campaign launched on Smith’s behalf in November says he was left homeless after his firing.
The NLRB has the facility to reinstate employees who’re fired for partaking in union actions and to compensate them for misplaced work, however can’t grant different forms of cash damages.
Reporting by Daniel Wiessner in New York, Enhancing by Alexia Garamfalvi and Invoice Berkrot
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