Two Amazon employees have accused the company of retaliating against them for efforts to organize workers at a warehouse in Liverpool, New York. Ashley Mercer and Jason Main filed an unfair labor practice complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on May 17.
According to Vice News, Amazon commissioned Mercer last week to collect cigarette butts, broken glass and other discarded rubbish in the car park of its SYR1 warehouse in Liverpool. Mercer told the outlet her manager sent her out alone and without water or sunscreen on a day when the temperature rose above 80 degrees Fahrenheit. What makes the situation even worse is that Mercer is six months pregnant and she is at the end of her second trimester. “Approved for 10 hours of parking lot cleaning,” according to a Vice lodging report.
On the same day, the company suspended Mercer’s partner Jason Main, also named in the NLRB complaint. Amazon later fired him for reportedly failing to use a step stool to move goods. Mercer and Main have both been involved in agitation on behalf of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) at various warehouses in New York. Additionally, the two have come to work at the Liverpool facility wearing ALU-branded shirts and masks, while Mercer has done the same at two warehouses in nearby Syracuse and leaflets at JFK8, the Staten Island facility that was the first to be unionized. has distributed Amazon warehouses in the US in the last month.
“It wasn’t until I started mentioning that I was part of the Amazon Labor Union that they pulled me out of my position and took me in front of the building,” Mercer told Vice. “I think it’s retribution because I’m a big part of it [the ALU] and it feels like they treat you differently once you speak up with the union.”
We reached out to Amazon for comment.
Amazon has not yet recognized the ALU. In April, the company challenged the results of the JFK8 vote, accusing the organization of threatening employees if they did not vote for a union. It also recently fired two employees involved in organizing that facility, and ALU itself arose from the termination of company founder Christian Smalls, a former worker at the JFK8 facility.
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