Leaked documents show Amazon, headed by the richest man in the world, obsessively monitors the labor and union-organizing activity of its European workforce, as well as environmentalist and social justice groups through social media. The corporation even hired operatives from the Pinkerton Detective Agency, which is best known for its sometimes violent union-busting at steel mills in the 19th century, to collect intelligence on warehouse workers.
That intelligence includes the exact date, time, location, source, number of participants, and description of the labor organizing event. The documents also show highly detailed information on how many warehouse workers attend union meetings, workers’ complaints about warehouse conditions, and “threat level assessments” about nearby labor activities such as strikes or protests.
Rather than pay workers a living wage, provide them with robust benefits, and not work them into the ground, Amazon is interfering with its workers’ right to unionize and employing every union-busting trick in the book. And let’s not forget that as Jeff Bezos’ wealth has increased by $70,000,000,000 during this pandemic, he has refused to give American warehouse workers paid sick leave, revoked their hazard pay, and smeared workers who have tried to organize. His unbridled greed never ceases to amaze me.