The National Labor Relations Board (NLBR) announced today that it will issue a formal complaint against Amazon for suspending a union organizer at a Staten Island warehouse.
The NLRB said that Amazon unlawfully suspended Brett Daniels, an organizer with the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), from Staten Island’s JFK8 facility in October. Daniels was allegedly suspended for engaging in “protected concerted activity in response to concerns over worker safety conditions” stemming from a fire at the warehouse, according to the tweet from Seth Goldstein, a partner at law firm Julien, Mirer, Singla and Goldstein, which represents ALU.
Goldstein said in a phone interview that the NLRB has not filed anything yet, but told the firm over the phone that they were filing the complaint.
The NLRB determined that Amazon’s actions violated the National Labor Relations Act when it suspended Daniels. This is the second time in less than a week that the NLRB has issued a complaint over the termination of a JFK8 employee. On Saturday, the NLRB said Amazon’s firing of Pat Cioffi, a Lead Organizer for ALU, was also unlawful.
“This landmark victory for workers’ rights demonstrates the ALU’s unwavering commitment to protecting its members’ rights and ensuring that they are fully and properly respected and safe from any wrongdoings by Amazon,” ALU said in a press release.
The JFK8 facility was the site of a contentious unionization vote last year and was the first Amazon facility to vote to unionize. The vote was challenged by Amazon, but the challenge failed last month after a labor official ruled the company lacked sufficient evidence to overturn the vote.
The ALU has failed to capitalize on the momentum from their win in New York. The union lost an election in a second facility on Staten Island and organizing efforts stalled when Amazon ramped up its efforts to overturn the JFK8 election.
The NLRB has aggressively pursued violations from Amazon, even citing Amazon CEO Andy Jassy for comments he made on television that the watchdog said violated labor law.
Amazon did not respond to a request for comment.
