Isaiah Thomas is a 20-year-old Amazon employee on the firm’s Bessemer, Alabama facility, BHM1. He can also be a vocal supporter of unionizing the warehouse. In a convention with press Monday night, he described what he believed had been surveillance and retaliation by his employer, solely due to his assist for collective bargaining efforts. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which has been working to signify workers at BHM1, has filed two unfair labor observe complaints with the National Labor Relations Board over the incident. 

In a screenshot offered by the union, a letter addressed solely from “BHM1 Management” to Isaiah claims the employee was “soliciting in working areas, during working associate times.” The letter concedes that these actions “may have occurred during your break time” however nonetheless contends that Isaiah was “in violation” of the corporate’s solicitation coverage. 

RWDSU, nevertheless, believes this motion was itself in violation of “the settlement agreement the employer recently executed with the NLRB.” That settlement, which was reported late final month, pertained to a number of situations of Amazon impeding union exercise. The union filed a separate ULP, alleging that the corporate or its brokers “created the impression Mr. Thomas was under surveillance.” Amazon has been recognized to carry captive viewers conferences meant to discourage union curiosity, and after one such assembly at BHM1 whereby Isaiah allegedly questioned a “labor relations manager,” RWDSU states in its ULP that “Mr. Thomas observed the employer’s agents circling his work area for no other purpose than to watch him work” and later assigned him to a distinct space the place he may very well be “more easily observed.”   

While RWDSU have described the letter as a “reprimand” in an electronic mail to Engadget, it is unclear if it represents a proper write-up. We’ve reached out for remark from Amazon.

The information comes two days after the NLRB dominated Amazon had illegally fired one other pro-union employee at its Staten Island facility. If that case does not go to settlement, the Board plans to situation a proper criticism in opposition to the corporate.

BHM1 famously turned the primary giant Amazon facility on US soil to carry a union vote. While the vote swung closely in favor of the cloud-and-ecommerce big, it was challenged on procedural grounds by RWDSU. The NLRB discovered advantage to the problem, ruling that Amazon had, the truth is, illegally interfered with the unionization vote. Ultimately the Board decided a brand new vote must be held. It’s scheduled to happen on February 4th (although the poll rely won’t start till the top of March.) 

Amazon is, past is choice for a non-unionized workforce, well-known for its charge of worker attrition. Seemingly, the pace at which it churns by employees would drawback efforts to construct a cohesive bargaining unit at BHM1. According to RWDSU, the present voter record on the facility it 6,143 individuals, simply over half of which had been current for the earlier vote, which passed off virtually precisely one 12 months in the past.