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☆ TJ Maxx store workers are wearing body cameras to deter shoplifters
▼ + stars: | 2024-06-05 | by ( Nathaniel Meyersohn | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +7 min

New York CNN —Hourly retail security workers are now wearing police-like body cameras at major stores. The manufacturer of Taser devices and other security companies are now designing and marketing body cameras specifically for retail workers. “Body cameras are just one of the many ways that we work to support a safe store environment,” the spokesperson said. Bakery chain Greggs gave employees body cameras after a rise in sausage roll thefts and threats from customers. Applebaum also expressed concerns about the information the body cameras are collecting and whether it could be used to stymie union organizing attempts.

Persons: TJ Maxx, John Klinger, “, they’re, ”, TJX isn’t, TJX, Joshua Isner, John Eck, shoplifters, They’re, Ernesto Lopez, Thaddeus Johnson, ” Stuart Applebaum, “ it’s, Applebaum, CNN’s Curt Devine Organizations: New, New York CNN, Marshalls, National Retail Federation, Tesco, CNN, University of Cincinnati, Criminal, Wholesale, Department Store Union Locations: New York, HomeGoods, Florida, Miami Beach

☆ Amazon broke federal labor law by calling Staten Island union organizers 'thugs,' interrogating workers
▼ + stars: | 2023-12-01 | by ( Annie Palmer | In Annierpalmer | ) www.cnbc.com time to read: +4 min

Senator Bernie Sanders, an Independent from Vermont, left, speaks next to Christian Smalls, founder of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), during an ALU rally in the Staten Island borough of New York, U.S., on Sunday, April 24, 2022. Amazon and consultants for the company violated federal labor law by interrogating and threatening employees regarding their union activities, and racially disparaging organizers who were seeking to unionize a Staten Island warehouse, a National Labor Relations Board judge ruled. In April 2022, employees voted to join the Amazon Labor Union, a grassroots group of current and former workers, becoming the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. The judge in New York heard testimony from Amazon employees, managers and labor consultants in virtual hearings that went on for almost a year. Amazon continues to challenge the JFK8 election results, as well as the NLRB and the union's conduct during the drive.

Persons: Bernie Sanders, Christian Smalls, Judge Lauren Esposito, Esposito, Daequan Smith, Bradley Moss, Moss, Smith, Natalie Monarrez, Monarrez, Monarrez . Moss, Chris Smalls, David Zapolsky, Amazon's, Smalls Organizations: Amazon Labor Union, National Labor Relations, NLRB, Amazon, Huffington, Department of Labor, BHM1, Retail, Wholesale, Department Store Union Locations: Vermont, Staten Island, New York, U.S, JFK8, unionizing, Bessemer , Alabama, Monarrez

☆ Amazon reinstates Bessemer, Alabama warehouse worker and union face Jennifer Bates
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-15 | by ( Clare Duffy | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

New York CNN —An Amazon worker and union organizer has been given her job back after she appealed her firing by the e-commerce giant earlier this month. Amazon on Thursday confirmed that it had reinstated Jennifer Bates — who became the face of the effort to unionize an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama — following its appeals process. Bates had received notice of her termination from Amazon in early June. Amazon workers at a New York warehouse voted to form the company’s first US union last year, although Amazon has since refused to recognize the union or come to the bargaining table. Other efforts to unionize Amazon facilities, including one across the street from the New York warehouse, have failed.

Persons: Jennifer Bates —, Bates, I’m, ” Bates, Mary Kate Paradis, –, Catherine Thorbecke Organizations: New, New York CNN, Amazon, Wholesale, Department Store Union, CNN, National Labor Relations Board Locations: New York, Bessemer , Alabama, United States

☆ Amazon fires Alabama warehouse worker who led union push
▼ + stars: | 2023-06-02 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +3 min

And I’ve given every fiber of my soul into organizing Amazon these past three years,” Bates said in a statement Friday. Amazon workers at a New York warehouse voted to form the company’s first US union last year, though Amazon has since refused to recognize the union or come to the bargaining table. Other efforts to unionize Amazon facilities, including one across the street from the New York warehouse, have failed. The closely-watched union election at the Bessemer facility ended with the results too close to call due to hundreds of challenged ballots. “Amazon’s behavior must not go unchallenged, and workers in Bessemer, Alabama must have their rights protected under the law.”

Persons: Jennifer Bates, “, I’ve, ” Bates, ”, Bates “, Bates, ” Mary Kate Paradis, we’ve, Stuart Appelbaum, Appelbaum, ” Appelbaum Organizations: CNN, Wholesale, Department Store Union, Amazon, National Labor Relations Board Locations: Alabama, Bessemer , Alabama, United States, New York, Amazon

☆ Companies Are Taking a Harder Line on Union Organizers, Workers Say
▼ + stars: | 2023-05-22 | by ( Noam Scheiber | ) www.nytimes.com time to read: +1 min

In some cases, the apparent escalation of company pushback has coincided with a slowing down of the union campaigns. At Starbucks, filings for union elections fell below 10 in August, from about 70 five months earlier, and no Apple store has filed for a union election since November. And in advance of a recent union election at an REI near Cleveland, management sought to exclude certain categories of workers from voting, according to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. It said the chain, a co-op that sells recreational gear, had made no such challenge in two previous elections, in which workers voted to unionize. (The union said the company backed down after workers at the Cleveland-area store walked out, and the store voted to unionize in March.)

☆ Amazon has changed how warehouses work in America. Some unions are using it as a chance to organize.
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-19 | by ( Sindhu Sundar | Juliana Kaplan | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Amazon has said warehouse workers can take breaks for activities like using the bathroom, talking to coworkers and managers, and grabbing snacks. A worker on an Amazon warehouse floor can be tasked with packing hundreds of boxes an hour. A worker on an Amazon warehouse floor can be tasked with packing hundreds of boxes an hour. But the Amazon Labor Union, a new union led by current and former Amazon workers, said its Staten Island victory had energized other workers. "There's one Amazon facility that's being built right behind the Victorville facility as we speak," he said.

Oct 18 (Reuters) - Amazon.com Inc (AMZN.O) workers have so far voted 150 to 76 against forming a union at their upstate-New York warehouse, with more ballots to be counted as of Tuesday morning. At ALB1, the retailer's fulfillment center in Castleton-on-Hudson, employees had the chance to decide whether to join the Amazon Labor Union in the company's fourth union election of the year. The longer-established Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union also was unable to organize an Amazon warehouse in Alabama this year, though that result is not yet final. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe ALU is now managing the fourth Amazon union vote count of 2022 after tackling various challenges. More than 50% of voting Amazon workers would have to opt to join the ALU for the upstate-New York facility to unionize.

☆ Amazon workers' ballots to be counted Tuesday in retailer's 4th union vote this year
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-18 | by ( Jeffrey Dastin | ) www.reuters.com time to read: +3 min

At ALB1, the retailer's fulfillment center in Castleton-on-Hudson, hundreds of employees had the chance to decide whether to join the Amazon Labor Union. The longer-established Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union also was unable to organize an Amazon warehouse in Alabama this year, though that result is not yet final. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com RegisterThe ALU is now heading in to the fourth Amazon union vote count this year after tackling various challenges. Just this month, it petitioned to hold a union vote in an Amazon warehouse in Southern California, and it backed a staff protest of work conditions in Staten Island following a fire; Amazon suspended some workers afterward. A simple majority of valid ballots submitted by Amazon workers will determine if the upstate-New York facility unionizes.

☆ Inside the cold war between Amazon and unions, which are wielding drones and secret agents to expose the company's labor practices
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-15 | by ( Katherine Long | ) www.businessinsider.com time to read: +11 min

Unions infiltrated Amazon construction sites in Oregon and Washington seeking regulatory violations. On a frosty morning in February 2021, Tom Tanner walked into an under-construction Amazon warehouse in eastern Washington seeking work. Campaigns to organize Amazon warehouse workers have grabbed national headlines. Amazon workers at the LDJ5 Amazon Sort Center join a rally in support of the union on April 24 in Staten Island, New York. Wendell Jeffson in a boom lift at the Amazon warehouse in Shelby, Michigan, when he was 17.

☆ Amazon Labor Union faces next showdown in upstate New York
▼ + stars: | 2022-10-12 | by ( Catherine Thorbecke | ) edition.cnn.com time to read: +9 min

The next month, that same group, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), fell short at a smaller facility across the street. On Wednesday, workers at an Amazon facility near Albany, New York, will begin voting on whether to join the ALU and become the second unionized Amazon warehouse in the United States. It also comes as Amazon has still not formally recognized the union in Staten Island or come to the bargaining table. Chris Smalls, a leader of the Amazon Labor Union, leads a march of Starbucks and Amazon workers and their allies to the homes of their CEOs to protest union busting on Labor Day, September 5, 2022, in New York City, New York. “I think they have an uphill battle ahead,” Kochan said of the union vote at the ALB1 facility.

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