Amazon agreed to let its warehouse employees organize in the workplace as part of a nationwide settlement with the National Labor Relations Board.
More than one million warehouse workers will receive notifications of their rights under the settlement, which was finalized on Wednesday. The agreement made it easier for the N.L.R.B., which investigates claims of unfair labor practices, to file a lawsuit against Amazon if it believed the company violated the terms.
Amazon has previously settled individual cases with the labor agency, but the new settlement goes further than any previous agreement.
The agency said that the settlement would reach one of the largest groups of workers in its history because of the size of Amazon. If the agency found the company did not abide by the settlement, the tech giant agreed to terms that would allow the N.L.R.B. to ignore an administrative hearing process.
Six cases of Amazon workers said the company limited their ability to organize. The New York Times obtained a copy.
The chair of the N.L.R.B. under former President Barack Obama said it was a big deal given the size of Amazon.
Amazon, the nation's second-largest private employer after Walmart, has faced increased labor pressure as its work force has soared to nearly 1.5 million globally. The company has become a leading example of worker organizing as the Pandemic changes what employees expect from their employers.
Amazon has grappled with organizing efforts at warehouses in Alabama and New York, and the International Brotherhood of Teamsters formally committed to support organizing at the company. Starbucks, Deere & Company and other companies have faced rising union activity.
Amazon is having a hard time finding enough employees to fulfill its growth. The company was built on a model of high turnover employment, which has now crashed into a phenomenon known as the Great Resignation, with workers in many industries quitting their jobs in search of a better deal for themselves.
Amazon raised wages and promised to improve its workplace. It will spend $4 billion to deal with labor shortages this quarter.
The N.L.R.B. says that the settlement agreement with Amazon will not interfere with the workers right to form a union or take other collective action.
Amazon didn't comment. The company believes that employees are better served without a union.
Amazon and the labor agency have been at times at odds. According to the N.L.R.B. database, more than 75 cases have been brought against Amazon for unfair labor practices. Ms. Abruzzo has directed the agency's staff to be more aggressive in their enforcement of labor laws.
In March, the Amazon BHM1 facility will be showing signs that encourage workers to cast a ballot.
Amazon agreed to change its 15-minute rule across the country and inform employees of other labor rights as part of the new settlement. Notices must be posted in all of Amazon's U.S. operations and on the employee app.
In the past, Amazon said the settlement did not constitute an admission of wrongdoing. The new settlement did not include any similar language. The N.L.R.B. staff was directed to only accept these non-admission clauses rarely by Ms. Abruzzo.
Ms. Liebman said that other large employers would likely take notice of Amazon's settlement.
She said that it sent a signal that the general counsel is serious about obeying the law.
The workers in Chicago and Staten Island, N.Y. said that Amazon had prevented them from being in areas like a break room or parking lot until 15 minutes before or after their shifts.
Ted Miin works at an Amazon delivery station in Chicago. Mr. Miin said he was told by his manager that he was not allowed to be at the protest.
He said that co-workers staged a walk out and that a security guard pressured him to leave the site.
A lawyer who represents the company's workers in Staten Island said that Amazon threatened to call the police on an employee who handed out union literature.
Matthew Bodie, a former lawyer for the N.L.R.B. who now teaches labor law at Saint Louis University, said that the right for workers to organize on-site during non-working time is well established.
The board has always been very protective of the fact that you can hang around and chat.
Mr. Miin, who is part of an organizing group called Amazon Workers in Chicago, and other workers reached a settlement with the company over the 15-minute rule at a different delivery station where they had worked last year. Two corporate employees settled privately with Amazon in an agreement that included a nationwide notification of worker rights, but it is not policed by the agency.
The N.L.R.B. pressed Amazon to agree to terms that would allow the agency to ignore the administrative hearing process if it found the company had broken the agreement.
He said that they could get a court order to make Amazon obey labor laws.
