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On the Clock is Motherboard's reporting on the organized labor movement, gig work, automation, and the future of work.
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Over the past six months, Amazon has taken steps to derail and discredit the union drive in Staten Island. It has displayed anti-union messages on TV screens throughout the facility and on fliers posted in bathrooms. It has sent notifications to workers on the company's internal portal, with a list of reasons for not signing union authorization cards. "Speak For Yourself: Union authorization cards are legally binding and authorize the union to act as your exclusive representative. This means you give up the right to speak for yourself," one of these messages said. The company has also sent union avoidance consultants throughout the facility to persuade workers not to join the union. In messaging and style, these tactics resemble those Amazon utilized earlier year to crush the union drive in Alabama. Out of 2,500 workers who voted in the Bessemer union election, more than 1,700 voted against the union. Since then, the National Labor Relations Board recommended a rerun of the election because it found compelling evidence that Amazon interfered with results by threatening and intimidating workers. In August, the National Labor Relations Board found that Amazon illegally interrogated workers at JFK8, unlawfully confiscated union literature from workers in their break room and created the impression of surveillance of their organizing outside the facility. Amazon is also facing a nationwide unionization campaign from the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, one of the nation's largest unions, which says it has devoted enormous resources to the project.Do you have a tip to share with us about Amazon? Please get in touch with Lauren, the reporter, via email lauren.gurley@vice.com or on Signal (201)-897-2109.