The company's first unionized warehouse in the U.S. was the result of an organizing campaign that resulted in the firing of two employees.
Cusick and Dutchin said they were fired by Amazon. Cusick and Dutchin have been working with the Amazon Labor Union, an upstart group led by current and former company employees, to organize workers at the e-commerce giant's warehouses on New York's Staten Island.
Last month, workers at Amazon's largest warehouse in New York City voted to join the ALU. The LDJ5 site rejected unionization last week, but the ALU hoped to duplicate its success there. The ALU has received high-profile recognition, most notably from President Joe Biden, despite the fact that the victory at JFK8 has spurred organizing efforts at other Amazon warehouses.
Dutchin, who worked as a package picker at JFK8 for almost a year, said he was fired on Saturday. He was told that he had failed to meet the company's productivity goals, which require employees to pick hundreds of packages per hour.
Dutchin said that he had received warnings from Amazon before, but that he had received additional training. Dutchin said his manager appreciated his improved performance.
Cusick, who serves as ALU's communications director, said he was fired last week after going on Covid care leave, which allows employees to care for family members sick with Covid-19.
A woman holds a placard as Amazon and union workers attend rally outside the company building on April 24, 2022, in the Staten Island borough of New York City.Cusick said that an employee from Amazon's human resources department was allowed to go on leave until April 29. Cusick said that on April 30 he received an email from Amazon saying that he had been absent from his job for three days, which was grounds for firing.
Cusick, who sorted packages for delivery at an Amazon facility called DYY6, discovered he had been locked out of Amazon's internal employee portal.
Cusick said that he called the employee resource center and that it looked like he had been.
He said that the first person may have said that he wasn't terminated.
According to a copy of the letter viewed by CNBC, Cusick was fired by Amazon due to job abandonment.
Amazon's employee HR systems have been under scrutiny in the past. The system has struggled to keep up with the company's rapid expansion, particularly during the coronaviruses epidemic, according to investigations by the New York Times.
Cusick described his dismissal as automated.
Cusick said that Amazon's systems are almost entirely digital. I'm locked out of the building so I can't talk to the people inside.
Vice reported on the firings. Representatives from Amazon didn't immediately respond to a request for comment about the dismissals.
Chris Smalls, the president of ALU, was fired by Amazon after he criticized the company's labor practices. A judge ordered Amazon to give Gerald Bryson his job back after he was fired two years ago for participating in a protest.
Dutchin said that he has been doing interviews, going to rallies and making national headlines.
Labor groups have been trying to organize Amazon facilities for several years, and the union victory at JFK8 was a big win. The challenges aren't over for the ALU as it now has to try and negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with Amazon, which has already sought to delay a contract by challenging the election outcome in court.
The company has made changes to the site's upper ranks in the last few days.
The New York Times reported that at least half a dozen senior managers were fired by Amazon. Several weeks of evaluations resulted in the firings at JFK8. According to the Times, the fired managers saw the move as a response to the union victory.
Tom Kochan, a professor at the MIT Sloan School of Management, said that Amazon could face a fight from the National Labor Relations Board if they fire managers who are not part of the bargaining unit.
It is immoral and a violation of the law to fire union organizers, but it may pay off for the firm to do so because the penalties are so weak.
The Amazon Labor Union won.
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