Amazon is said to have removed numerous top managers who were part of “operations and leadership” at JFK8, the Staten Island, New York site that just voted to unionize. According to reports, Amazon informed the managers that it was undergoing an “organizational transition,” but some of their coworkers see it as retaliation for the union’s victory.
That is a painfully ambiguous statement – it might suggest that the managers were entrusted with preventing the union from winning and that they were fired for failing to do so. However, it is possible that the managers assisted the union in some way and are being dismissed as a result (though that would likely be a case of illegal retaliation).
Both organizers and regulators have condemned Amazon’s tactics leading up to the poll, in which workers decided to unionize by a margin of 2,654 to 2,131. The corporation has been accused of union-busting, blocking employees from expressing their rights, and terminating employees as reprisal for organizing. Amazon has challenged the election results, claiming that the union and the National Labor Relations Board “suppressed and swayed” votes.
It’s not uncommon for Amazon to fire failing employees. According to a previous year’s report, Amazon’s goal is to fire its lowest-performing employees each year, sometimes without much notice. However, it appears doubtful that is the case here; reports indicate that some of them had recently gotten favorable comments about their work, and the timing of the firings does not correspond with Amazon’s performance review cycle.
