Lots of small news items in recent days relative to Amazon fulfillment centers.
Here are the highlights.
Supply Chain Digest Says... |
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Thief Walks in Multiple Amazon FCs and Grabs Apple Products
An alleged thief is accused of stealing some $100,000 in Apple and other electronic products across four Amazon FCs in the Southeast – apparently by just walking into the buildings and grabbing the goods.
Former Amazon FC worker Markece Ryans is being charged with the thefts in Georgia, Alabama, and Mississippi. An investigator with the Atlanta area’s Coweta County Sheriff’s Office said Ryans knows how to navigate the FCs, from getting in, to getting around, to getting out – with apparently little security.
SCDigest suspects there are some security managers under the hot seat in those FCs.
New Attempt to Unionize Amazon FC in Albany
Workers have launched a union campaign at an Amazon FC near Albany, NY, in the latest bid to organize an Amazon facility.
Labor organizers at the FC are seeking a vote on joining the independent Amazon Labor Union, a makeshift organization started by Amazon workers that orchestrated a union victory at an FC Staten Island in April the first such success in the US.
However, the union then lost a vote at a nearby Amazon sortation center in May.
Workers involved in the campaign said they are moving to unionize to push for higher wages, safer working conditions, longer breaks and a changes in how the company tracks productivity.
Organization efforts are also in motion in North Carolina and Kentucky.
Organizers at the Albany FC have parked themselves outside the building, 12 miles southeast of Albany. From there, they have distributed literature with QR codes that link to digital union authorization cards. The organizers say they’ve collected hundreds of cards already.
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 The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requires signatures from more than 30% of eligible workers to launch a union election process. The Albany organizers say they’ve already passed that level, but are waiting to file for an election until they have the support of 70% of eligible to workers.
Amazon Announces Policy Shift for Off-Duty Workers that Could Impact Union Efforts
Amazon employees are now barred from accessing buildings and working areas if they are not scheduled to work that day, the company recently announced.
Employees are also barred from accessing the buildings before or after their shift, under the new policy.
The policy shift was criticized by labor advocates as potentially hindering the ability of workers to hold union drives and meetings.
Amazon says the moves were made to protect worker safety.
A company spokesperson added that off-duty employees are not prohibited from meeting with co-workers in "non-working areas" away from the company’s facilities.
"One part of this is knowing who is in our buildings at any given time, so we can quickly find and account for everyone in the event of an emergency," a notice to employees said.
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