CWA accuses Activision of threatening employees for discussing work conditions

The union working to organize Activision Blizzard workers — the Communications Workers of America — filed a complaint today with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing the video game company of forbidding workers from discussing ongoing se…

Amazon permanently allows workers to carry phones following warehouse collapse

Amazon will permanently allow warehouse employees to keep their cellphones with them at work after temporarily permitting them during the pandemic, Vice has reported. “We recognize the desire for employees to keep their mobile phones with them inside facilities, and the last two years have demonstrated that we can safely do so,” an internal message seen by Motherboard stated. “Therefore, we are making the temporary phone policy permanent worldwide, in all of our operations facilities.”

Amazon planned to reinstate the mobile device ban following the COVID-19 pandemic. However, when its Edwardsville, Illinois warehouse collapsed in a tornado, killing six people, angry associates demanded permanent cellphone access for safety reasons. They delivered a petition to six Amazon warehouses in December, saying “taking our phones away isn’t about safety, it’s about controlling us.” Workers who voted to unionize at Amazon’s Staten Island facility also made cell phone access a key demand. 

Amazon subsequently backtracked on the idea “until further notice,” and has now permanently removed the ban. Meanwhile, 1,500 workers at another Staten Island warehouse are voting on whether or not to unionize, with the vote counting set to start on May 2nd. Amazon avoided penalties in the warehouse collapse, but the US safety watchdog OSHA asked the company to review its procedures after discovering issues with its Emergency Action Plan (EAP).

Amazon avoids fines and other penalties in Illinois warehouse collapse

Amazon won’t face fines and other penalties following the collapse of an Illinois warehouse that killed six workers during a tornado, CNBC has reported. However, the US Labor Department’s Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) asked Amazon to review its procedures after discovering issues with its Emergency Action Plan (EAP). 

The storm that ripped across six states in December, well outside of tornado season, was one of the deadliest in years. Despite tornado warnings from the National Weather Service 36 hours ahead of the event, Amazon continued to operate the Edwardsville, Illinois warehouse. It was in the middle of a shift change when the tornado touched down with wind speeds up to 150 MPH, destroying the south side of the building. 

OSHA investigators concluded that Amazon’s severe weather emergency guidelines “met minimal safety guidelines for storm sheltering.” Because of that, “under our standards, there’s not a specific citation we can issue in light of the actions at Amazon,” OSHA’s assistant secretary of labor Doug Parker told reporters.

We’re making recommendations because under our standards, there’s not a specific citation we can issue in light of the actions at Amazon.

OSHA identified some workplace conditions as “risk factors,” though. A megaphone to be used to activate shelter-in-place procedures was locked in a cage and inaccessible, and some employees didn’t recall the location of the designated shelter-in-place location. In addition, Amazon’s EAP had a section for severe weather emergencies, but it wasn’t customized with specific instructions for the Edwardsville facility. To that end, investigators recommended that Amazon “voluntarily” take steps to address the issues.

An Amazon spokesperson told CNBC that it would “carefully consider” the recommendations. “Employees receive emergency response training, and that training is reinforced throughout the year. OSHA’s investigation did not find any violations or causes for citations, but we’re constantly looking to innovate and improve our safety measures and have already begun conducting additional safety and emergency preparedness drills at our sites and will carefully consider any OSHA recommendation that we have not already.”

While Amazon avoided penalties from OSHA, it’s facing a separate probe in Congress and multiple lawsuits. The House Oversight committee announced it was investigating Amazon Warehouse safety earlier this month, saying it “seeks to fully understand the events that led to the tragedy at Amazon’s Edwardsville facility.” The company is also facing multiple lawsuits from several injured workers and the family of one of the people killed in the collapse. 

Verizon fires worker for union organizing, CWA alleges

successfully voted to join the Communications Workers of America (CWA). Now the company has fired Jesse Mason, a worker at the nearby Seattle Northgate and Aurora Village locations. He contends his sudden separation from the company was an illegal attempt to prevent more stores from organizing, and has, with the help of the CWA, filed an unfair labor practice (ULP) charge against the company with the National Labor Relations Board.

Mason, who previously worked with AT&T (which is unionized under CWA), started at Verizon in August and had received no prior disciplinary actions — in fact, he told Engadget, he was one of the top Specialists at his branch. It wasn’t until his annual review that he started to wonder if maybe unionization could be a path toward making Verizon more equitable. 

“They were like, ‘Well, you’re newer to Verizon, therefore because you’re new your raise for the whole year is going to be 1 percent. It is not negotiable,” he told Engadget. Performance notwithstanding, 1 percent did little to offset the cost of living in the greater Seattle area, or the country’s soaring 8 percent inflation rate. “When you’re giving people a 1 percent raise, that’s the same thing as giving them a pay cut,” he said. 

What solidified his decision to reach out to CWA was seeing the nationwide push by Starbucks workers to organize. In specific, attending a rally in his area sometime in February.

“A week after the Everett and Lynnwood vote went public, that they pulled me aside and told me that they were launching an investigation,” Mason said, though he was unable to go into details on the nature of the investigation pending his ULP, “But it was about something very minor and easily correctable.” What made this stranger, was the speed and lack of adherence to internal processes in his case. “There’s some progressive discipline, like verbal warning, and a written warning and a final, final warning,” he said “With me, the next shift that I worked after I was at the watch party to celebrate those stores unionizing, they said that the result of the investigation was my immediate separation from Verizon.” 

Mason claimed to have never been given any of the documentation related to the investigation. 

In between the union drive going public a few miles away at his sister stores and Mason’s firing, he also claimed Verizon flew in several company higher-ups — something a worker at the Lynnwood and Everett locations also alleged happened after going public. One manager, according to Mason, pushed misinformation regarding the cost of union dues to CWA, despite such contracts being publicly available. 

“Mr. Mason’s termination had absolutely nothing to do with union activity. While we’re not going to publicly discuss the reasons for the dismissal, we intend to vigorously defend ourselves against these baseless accusations,” a Verizon spokesperson told Engadget. “We respect the rights of our employees to choose whether or not they wish to be union-represented and we routinely provide facts to our employees so that they can make an informed decision for themselves.”

CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens has called Mason’s firing “a clear tactic meant to intimidate other workers,” and it’s difficult to argue that Verizon’s actions may have a chilling effect on organizing efforts in the area. Still, Mason said he’s fully confident the NLRB will find in his favor and reinstate his job with backpay. But the among of rigamarole in the meantime shows the limits of the agency’s power.

“I think that this case really shows some of the weaknesses of the NLRB currently, not just being understaffed, but that even if I do get my job back, it’s not like one of those lawsuits where someone slips and falls and they get millions of dollars in settlements,” Mason said. “There’s no real consequence for this kind of retaliatory union busting.” He added wryly, “I think it’s a bad idea, because it’s only going to have me work on union stuff full time until I’m back there.”

 Updated with comment from Verizon. 

Are you a Verizon worker looking to organize? I’d like to hear from you. Download Signal messenger for iOS or Android and text me confidentially at 646 983 9846.

Apple hired the same anti-union law firm as Starbucks: report

Apple hired Littler Mendelson — an anti-union law firm known for high-profile clients such as Starbucks, McDonald’s and Nissan — reportedThe Verge. The decision to retain the firm comes shortly after 100 workers at Apple’s retail location in Atlanta’s Cumberland Mall petitioned the National Labor Relations Board last week to hold a union election. The tech giant has yet to formally respond to the petition. 

Apple workers at the Atlanta retail store are hoping to join the Communications Workers of America. The CWA has played a significant role in organizing tech industry workers in recent months, including its involvement in organizing drives Activision Blizzard subsidiary Raven Software and Verizon Wireless. 

The Cumberland Mall location is the first Apple Store in the US to file to unionize. But it likely won’t be the last. Earlier this month workers at Apple’s Grand Central location began collecting signatures to start a union. A worker at a New York store told The Verge the company had already begun holding captive audience meetings, a hallmark of union avoidance strategies. 

Hourly workers at Apple retail stores nationwide have complained of low pay, difficult working conditions and few opportunities for advancement. Many Apple employees were asked to work long hours or overtime during the pandemic, often at risk to their own health. Despite its steady ascent to becoming one of the world’s most profitable companies, the wages of its retail employees have not kept pace with either Apple’s growth or the country’s ballooning inflation, according to workers. 

“We are fortunate to have incredible retail team members and we deeply value everything they bring to Apple. We are pleased to offer very strong compensation and benefits for full time and part time employees, including health care, tuition reimbursement, new parental leave, paid family leave, annual stock grants and many other benefits,” Apple spokesperson Nick Leahy told The Verge, in a statement that did not in any capacity touch on the company’s relationship with Littler Mendelson. 

“By retaining the notorious union busting firm Littler Mendelson, Apple’s management is showing that they intend to try to prevent their employees from exercising their right to join a union by running the same playbook as other large corporations,” said CWA Secretary-Treasurer Sara Steffens. “The workers at Starbucks, another Littler client, aren’t falling for it and neither will the workers at Apple.”

Are an Apple Store worker thinking about or starting to organize your location? We’d like to hear from you. Download Signal messenger for iOS or Android and send a text confidentially to 646 983 9846.

Amazon workers in New York accuse the company of retaliatory firings

An independent group of Amazon workers called Amazonians United is accusing the e-commerce giant of firing four workers in Queens because they “supported a labor organization.” According to BuzzFeed News, the group filed charges with the National Labor Relations Board on April 14th, arguing that the company fired the workers for “protesting terms and conditions of employment.” The group also said that Amazon made the move to “discourage union activities.”

Workers at Amazon’s warehouses in Long Island City and Woodsland staged a walkout back in March to demand a pay raise of $3 an hour and the reinstatement of their 20-minute rest breaks. A Motherboard report about the protest noted that the workers were earning around $15.75 to $17.25 an hour and that Amazon had shortened their rest breaks from 20 to 15 minutes. Workers at the Queens facilities also joined a petition that circulated in December demanding better inclement weather policy and the right to keep their phones with them in case of emergency. 

As a labor organization, Amazonians United collectively fights for better policies that benefit workers without being an official union. It successfully fought for workplace policy changes and pay raises in the past. In this particular case, the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) still has to review the group’s complaint before it decides if it has any merit. Just a few days ago, the NLRB successfully convinced a judge to order Amazon to reinstate Staten Island warehouse worker Gerald Bryson. The judge sided with the labor board and agreed with its argument that the company fired Bryson in retaliation for participating in a COVID-19 safety protest back in 2020.

Amazon accused of using charity work scheme to conceal warehouse incident rates

Amazon is pursuing the “aggressive geographic and use case expansion” of a scheme that sends injured warehouse workers to non-profits for light duty, according to The Financial Times. Under the scheme that’s officially called Amazon Community Together, workers get their full salary instead of compensation benefits that typically only cover a portion of their usual pay. While the program sounds beneficial for both workers and local non-profits, workers’ rights advocates argue that it’s a tool Amazon uses to hide the real number of serious injuries at its warehouses. 

Participants in the Community Together program are sent to charities like Salvation Army and Habitat for Humanity to do whatever work they’re capable of with their injuries. Over 10,000 workers have been placed at non-profits since it the program launched in 2016, but Amazon had to scale back its operations during the pandemic. Amazon spokesperson Lisa Campos said the program is voluntary and that the company gets “overwhelmingly positive” feedback from participants and partner non-profits. Indeed, the workers The Times talked to said they’re treated well at their placements, and partner non-profits are thankful for the “amazing amount of work” the workers do for them. 

As the publication points out, though, it also gives Amazon a way to reduce its Lost Time Incident Rate (LTIR), which is a standard OSHA metric that gives authorities concrete data on the number of severe incidents in a facility. Based on figures from the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, Amazon’s rate of injury is more than double that of the national warehousing industry average. And according to Strategic Organizing Center (SOC), a coalition of North American labor unions, there were 34,001 serious injuries at Amazon’s US facilities last year, up 36 percent from 2020. (Company CEO Andy Jassy blamed that high injury rate to new workers in a letter to shareholders and in an interview with CNBC.)

Amazon published its own report (PDF) in January that claims a 49 percent drop in LTIR in the US and a 43 percent drop worldwide in 2020. It didn’t, however, mention the growing number of Community Together placements, which had reportedly gone up by 22 percent over the same period. Eric Frumin from SOC said the program “can create a good social environment for people,” but “it can be highly abusive because the job could be contributing to the recurrence of the injury, or preventing recovery.”

FAA revokes YouTuber’s pilot license, saying he deliberately crashed his plane

On November 21st, Trevor Jacob’s single-engine airplane fell out of the sky — a harrowing experience that the YouTuber just so happened to catch on film and upload to social media. In January, aviation experts began investigating the incident (as they are wont to do in the event of most every aviation crash) and, on Thursday, the Federal Aviation Administration formally accused Jacob of staging the entire incident and intentionally crashing his 1940 Taylorcraft for online clout.

At the time, Jacob, a former Olympic snowboarder, claimed that his plane had malfunctioned, forcing him to bail out and parachute to safely while the aircraft crashed into the Los Padres National Forest in Southern California. However, in a letter dated April 11th, the FAA informed him that he had operated his plane in a “careless or reckless manner so as to endanger the life or property of another,” a violation of aviation regulations. The FAA also revoked his pilot’s license effective immediately.

When reached by the New York Times this week, Jacob claimed to not be aware of the April 11th letter but declined to comment, on advice of his attorney. Although the FAA can’t actually prosecute anybody for violating regulations, should Jacob fail to surrender his pilot’s license he can be held liable for “further legal enforcement action” and fined up to $1,644 a day until he does.

UK court orders US extradition of Julian Assange on espionage charges

A court in London has formally issued the order to extradite WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange to the US. That puts his fate in the hands of UK home secretary Priti Patel, who’ll be the one deciding whether Assange will be sent back to the US where he’s set to face espionage charges. WikiLeaks made waves in 2010 after publishing thousands of classified documents and diplomatic cables sent to the US State Department. Assange is wanted in the US for 18 criminal charges due to those leaks, and he could face up to 175 years in prison if convicted.

Assange sought refuge at the Ecuadorian Embassy of London in 2012 and stayed there for years until his asylum was withdrawn in 2019. WikiLeaks claimed back then that the embassy spied on its founder and took photos, videos and audio recordings of him. He was arrested from the embassy, and the US government has been trying to get him extradited since then. 

In January 2021, a British court ruled that he shouldn’t be extradited to the United States to stand trial, because “the risk to his mental and physical wellbeing was too great.” However, the US government appealed and argued that he had no history of “serious and enduring mental illness.” A UK appeals court reversed the previous ruling in December 2021, opening the doors for his extradition. 

Assange joined the most recent trial via video call from the Belmarsh Prison in London. The extradition order was issued by Paul Goldspring, the chief magistrate, who said during the trial: “I am duty bound to send your case to the secretary of state for a decision.” According to The Guardian, Assange’s side will have the chance to sway Patel’s decision by sending the home secretary “serious submissions” and could also challenge issues he lost in court but haven’t appealed yet. And it is possible to convince a home secretary to block extraditions — former UK home secretary Theresa May blocked Scottish hacker Gary McKinnon’s extradition on human rights grounds. British activist Lauri Love also successfully convinced the UK High Court to side with him when he appealed his extradition orders.