Senators ask Bezos: Explain how this does not mean that a union has crashed

Meaning. Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren asked Jeff Bezos, CEO of Amazon, to explain it in an open letter yesterday. They are concerned about reports of "potentially illegal anti-union behavior" at Whole Foods, which Amazon bought for $ 13.7 billion last year.

Team leaders at Whole Foods stores recently watched a 45-minute training video on workplace disheartening practices after several weeks of media coverage of attempts to unionize workers. In the video transmitted to Gizmodo, the narrator states: "We are not anti-union, but we are not neutral either." The National Labor Relations Act (NLRA) protects the right of employees to affiliate to a union and bargain collectively, and employers are not allowed to threaten adverse consequences or spy on employees.

Sanders began to claim Amazon for wages paid to warehouse workers in August, highlighting the contrast between the wealth of Bezos, who recently became the richest man in modern history, and the average worker.

Amazon, including Whole Foods, increased its minimum wage to $ 15 earlier this month. Senators wrote in the open letter to Bezos: "It is important to recognize that workers' rights are not limited to the minimum wage, and to increase the wages of your lowest paid workers, even if it is important , do not allow you to pass freely. engage in potentially illegal anti-union behavior. "

Sanders and Warren have asked Amazon to release before November 1 the full video, script, and other material distributed to Whole Foods employees regarding recruitment activities, as well as the steps taken by the company to ensure that supervisors do not violate federal labor laws. or not, Amazon employees have been fired or have been retaliated for expressing their concerns about working conditions.