Amazon Spokesperson Strongly Disputes Many of the Allegations, but Says It is Using Pinkerton – only for High Value Shipments

A European publication called Motherboard released leaked internal Amazon documents that appear to show clandestine activities by the company to monitor potential unionization activities inside its fulfillment centers.

Motheboard obtained internal emails sent to Amazon's Global Security Operations Center which show that all the division's global members received updates on labor organizing activities at FCs that include the exact date, time, and location of the activity, the source reporting the action, the number of participants at an labor-oriented event, and a description of what happened, such as a "strike" or "the distribution of leaflets."

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The leaked documents, Motherboard says, also indicate that Amazon intelligence analysts keep close tabs on FC employees who attend union meetings.

Perhaps most interesting of all, the documents show that Amazon has hired agents from well-known intelligence/detective company Pinkerton – though its role is unclear. An Amazon spokesperson confirmed a relationship with Pinkerton, but said Pinkerton employees were used to secure high-value shipments in transit.

The Amazon security operation appears to gather information on union organizing and social justice movements to guard against disruptions to order fulfillment throughput. The documents and emails obtained by Motherboard also show Amazon uses social media to track environmental activism and social movements in Europe.

Amazon strongly rejects the idea it is doing anything wrong and many of the specifics allegations cited by Motherboard.

"Like any other responsible business, we maintain a level of security within our operations to help keep our employees, buildings, and inventory safe," Lisa Levandowski, a spokesperson for Amazon, told Motherboard. "That includes having an internal investigations team who work with law enforcement agencies as appropriate, and everything we do is in line with local laws and conducted with the full knowledge and support of local authorities. Any attempt to sensationalize these activities or suggest we're doing something unusual or wrong is irresponsible and incorrect."

Levandowski also denied that Amazon hired on-the-ground operatives.

"We do not use our partners to gather intelligence on warehouse workers," she added.

However, in September, after public outcry, Amazon removed two job postings for intelligence analysts for its Global Security Operations Center whose job would be to track "labor organizing threats" to the company.

And Motherboard says that a source with knowledge of the company's intelligence activities says that in order to track protests and other labor organizing activity, Amazon intelligence agents create social media accounts without photos and track the online activity of workers leading organizing efforts. Motherboard granted the source anonymity because he or she feared retaliation from Amazon.

Levandowski, the Amazon spokesperson, said it is against company policy to create social media accounts with fake names and photo-less profiles.

Motherboard, hpwever, adds that a team within Amazon's security center, which includes former military intelligence analysts (according to LinkedIn profiles), closely tracks organized labor and union activity in France, the United Kingdom, Italy, Spain, Germany, Poland, Austria, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia.

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Also in September, Motherboard obtained evidence that Amazon had been using a social media monitoring tool to spy on dozens of private Facebook groups for Amazon Flex drivers in the United States and Europe.

Based on that and other reports, in October four U.S. senators, including Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, responded with a letter to Jeff Bezos demanding Amazon stop "actively interfering with worker" rights by tracking and monitoring employees who might exercise their rights to freedom of association."

So it's hard to sort out what is really going on here. But it is clear Amazon's labor issues are from over.

The full Motherboard story is available here: Secret Amazon Reports Expose the Company's Surveillance of Labor and Environmental Groups

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