Amazon warns employees to be wary of “Union Words.”
Amazon is unnecessarily cruel to its warehouse workers. They are underpaid, overworked, and don’t have the necessary support or benefits to help with their conditions. Furthermore, many require state aid to make ends meet—welfare—making Amazon a burden of American taxpayers.
Working at Amazon is tiring. Workers are frequently sustain injuries at work, and incapable of taking time off to get help. When they do, Amazon meets them with a lack of compensation and a lack of compassion. Furthermore, due to grueling conditions, workers aren’t even taking bathroom breaks. They’re not drinking enough water in hot warehouses. Some decide to pee in bottles so they can continue working.
All of this is at a measly rate of, on average, $13/hour. Despite Amazon’s claims of potential compensation reaching $15/hour, the averages don’t lie. Amazon’s employees work themselves to the bone for pennies.
It’s only natural, then, that the workers would want to unionize. Because warehouses must be local, and because low cost overseas labor cannot make up for the local warehouses, Amazon would have to cave to the demands of a union. That’s why they work so hard to stamp out any whispers of unionizing before it can begin.
In a video leaked to Gizmodo, we got a peek into a part of that indoctrination. Amazon’s film instructs workers to report any signs of unionizing so employees can be handled or fired, incentivizes reporting, and makes workers fearful for their positions. It seems as though Amazon’s pulling pages out of Kim Jong Un’s playbook to run their warehouses.
Amazon’s Intimidation Tactics
“We are not anti-union, but we are not neutral either….”
– Amazon Training Video
Gizmodo got their hands on a leaked training video from Amazon. In order to protect the leaker, they did not share the video in full, but instead shared screenshots and a description of the 45 minute program. The video tells new Amazon employees that unions are bad for business, and they should report any worrisome behavior to their managers.
Part of a quiz to see if employees have learned their union busting skills
In Amazon’s training video, employees will learn key words often used by unhappy employees who may be considering unionizing. Amazon instructs trainees to look out for “suspicious behavior,” like after work social groups, people socializing outside of their normal circles, negativity, or discussions involving pay or benefits. These, Amazon says, could be signs of behavior suggestive of organizing and unionizing. People caught organizing could be terminated, along with anyone they were speaking to. It’s not far off from the tactics used by dictators to maintain control of their population. They’ve made employees fearful of socializing, forcing them to distrust each other.
“We do not believe unions are in the best interest of our customers, our shareholders, or most importantly, our associates. Our business model is built upon speed, innovation, and customer obsession—things that are generally not associated with union. When we lose sight of those critical focus areas we jeopardize everyone’s job security: yours, mine, and the associates’.”
– Amazon Training Video
Punishment for “Union Words”
Amazon says not to follow these tips when confronting employees, to instead express Amazon defined “opinions.”
After learning all of the warning signs, like employees complaining about discomfort or pay, trainees then go through a small test. Amazon gives new managers example situations, telling them to select whether it’s a “Warning Sign,” or an “Innocent Interaction.” They then tell the trainees that unions could cause entire warehouses to close, costing everyone their jobs. Managers are encouraged to stamp out behavior that could cause Amazon employees to unionize. Amazon tells them not to threaten employees, but they can express “opinions,” as strongly worded as they like, to discourage such ideas.
“Opinions can be mild, like, ‘I’d rather work with associates directly,’ or strong: ‘Unions are lying, cheating rats.’ The law protects both!”
-Amazon Training Video
Employees who make complaints to their managers about pay, benefits, working conditions, or even injuries find their managers unsympathetic. Many report retaliation for their complaints, seeing fewer, or less convenient hours. As Amazon tracks their employees everywhere in the warehouse using an electronic device on each person, they may also force troublemakers to work harder. Amazon managers push employees they’ve flagged as potential troublemakers out of their jobs. The same would happen to anyone caught by a coworker hanging out with new groups of people or discussing their back pains and lack of adequate healthcare. Amazon’s trying to control employee thought with these training videos, using tactics better seen in 1984 than in 2018.
“You would never threaten to close your building just because associates joined a union. But you might need to talk about how having a union could hurt innovation which could hurt customer obsession which could ultimately threaten the building’s continued existence.”
– Amazon Training Video (Emphasis added)
Unfortunately, this is what our two day shipping demands have lead to.
Source: Bryan Menegus, Gizmodo
Update: An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the average Amazon warehouse worker took home $11/hour. While this is true for many Amazon employees, it is not the average. Amazon warehouse workers make between $10-$19 per hour, depending on overtime, seniority, stock, and cash bonuses. On average, an Amazon warehouse employee can expect to make $13/hour, though, for most warehouse positions, this would not be the entry level pay rate.