Italo Medelius-Marsano was a law student at North Carolina Central University in 2022, when he took a job at an\u00a0Amazon\u00a0warehouse near the city of Raleigh to earn some extra cash.<\/p>\n
The past month has been unlike any other during his three-year tenure at the company. Now, when he shows up for his shift at the shipping dock, Medelius-Marsano says he\u2019s met with flyers and mounted TVs urging him to \u201cvote no,\u201d as well as QR codes on workstations that lead to\u00a0an anti-union website. During meetings, managers discourage unionization.<\/p>\n
The facility in the suburb of Garner, North Carolina, employs roughly 4,700 workers and is the site of Amazon\u2019s latest labor showdown. Workers at the site\u00a0are voting this week\u00a0on whether to join Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity (CAUSE), a grassroots union made up of current and former employees.<\/p>\n
CAUSE organizers started the group in 2022 in an effort to boost wages and improve working conditions. Voting at the site, known as RDU1, wraps up on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Workers at RDU1 and other facilities told CNBC that Amazon is increasingly using digital tools to deter employees from unionizing. That includes messaging through the company\u2019s app and workstation computers. There\u2019s also automated software\u00a0and handheld package scanners\u00a0<\/strong>used to track employee performance inside the warehouse, so the company knows when staffers are working or doing something else.<\/p>\n \u201cYou cannot get away from the anti-union propaganda or being surveilled, because when you walk into work they have cameras all over the building,\u201d said Medelius-Marsano, who is an organizer with CAUSE. \u201cYou can\u2019t get into work without scanning a badge or logging into a machine. That\u2019s how they track you.\u201d<\/p>\n CAUSE representatives have also made their pitch to RDU1 employees. The union has set up a \u201cCAUSE HQ\u201d tent across the street from the warehouse and\u00a0disbursed leaflets in the facility\u2019s break room.<\/p>\n Amazon, the nation\u2019s second-largest private employer, has long sought to keep unions out of its ranks. The strategy succeeded in the U.S.\u00a0until 2022, when workers at a Staten Island warehouse voted to join the Amazon Labor Union. Last month, workers at a Whole Foods store in Philadelphia\u00a0voted to join\u00a0the United Food and Commercial Workers union.<\/p>\n In December, Amazon delivery and warehouse workers at nine facilities went on\u00a0strike, organized by the Teamsters, during the height of the holiday shopping season to push the company to the bargaining table. The strike ended on Christmas Eve.<\/p>\n Union elections at other Amazon warehouses in New York have finished in defeat in recent years, while the results of a union drive at an Alabama facility are being contested.\u00a0Organizers have pointed to\u00a0Amazon\u2019s near-constant monitoring of employees as both a catalyst and a deterrent of union campaigns.<\/p>\n The NLRB has 343 open or settled unfair labor practice charges filed with the agency against Amazon, its subsidiaries and contracted delivery companies in the U.S., a spokesperson said.\u00a0<\/p>\n Amazon has argued in legal filings that the NLRB, which issues complaints against companies or unions determined to have violated labor law, is unconstitutional. Elon Musk\u2019s SpaceX,\u00a0Starbucks\u00a0and Trader Joe\u2019s have also made similar claims that challenge the agency\u2019s authority.<\/p>\n Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards said the company\u2019s employees can choose whether or not to join a union.<\/p>\n \u201cWe believe that both decisions should be equally protected which is why we talk openly, candidly and respectfully about these topics, actively sharing facts with employees so they can use that information to make an informed decision,\u201d Hards said in a statement.<\/p>\n Hards said the company doesn\u2019t retaliate against employees for union activities, and called claims that its employee monitoring discourages them from unionizing \u201codd.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cThe site is operating, so employees are still expected to perform their usual work,\u201d Hards said in a statement. \u201cFurther, the camera technology in our facilities isn\u2019t to surveil employees \u2014 it\u2019s to help guide the flow of goods through the facilities and ensure security and safety of both employees and inventory.\u201d<\/p>\n Orin Starn, a CAUSE organizer who was fired by Amazon early last year for violating the company\u2019s drug and alcohol policy, called Amazon\u2019s employee tracking \u201calgorithmic management of labor.\u201d Starn is an anthropology professor at Duke University who began working undercover at RDU1 in 2023 to conduct research for a book on Amazon.<\/p>\n \u201cWhere 100 years ago in a factory you would\u2019ve had a supervisor come around to tell you if you\u2019re slacking off, now in a modern warehouse like Amazon, you\u2019re tracked digitally through a scanner,\u201d Starn said.<\/p>\n John Logan, a professor and director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, told CNBC in an email that Amazon has \u201cperfected the weaponization\u201d of technology, workplace surveillance and algorithmic management during anti-union campaigns \u201cmore than any other company.\u201d<\/p>\n While Amazon may be more sophisticated than others, \u201cthe use of data analytics is becoming far more common in anti-union campaigns across the country,\u201d Logan said. He added that it\u2019s\u00a0\u201d<\/strong>extremely common\u201d for companies to try to improve working conditions or sweeten employee perks during a union drive.<\/p>\n Other academics are paying equally close attention to the issue. In a\u00a0research paper\u00a0published last week, Northwestern University PhD candidate Teke Wiggin explored Amazon\u2019s use of algorithms and digital devices at the company\u2019s BHM1 warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.<\/p>\n \u201cThe black box and lack of accountability that comes with algorithmic management makes it harder for a worker or activist to decide if they\u2019re being retaliated against,\u201d Wiggin said in an interview. \u201cMaybe their schedule changes a little bit, work feels harder than it used to, the employer can say that has nothing to do with us, that\u2019s just the algorithm. But we have no idea if the algorithm has changed.\u201d<\/p>\n Some Amazon employees see the situation differently. Storm Smith works at RDU1 as a process assistant, which involves monitoring worker productivity and safety. Amazon referred Smith to CNBC in the course of reporting this story.<\/p>\n Amazon\u2019s workplace controls, like rate and time off task, are \u201cpart of the job,\u201d Smith said. Staffers are \u201calways welcome\u201d to ask her what their rate is, she added.<\/p>\n \u201cFor my people, if I see your rate is not where it\u2019s supposed to be, I\u2019ll come up to you and say, \u2019Hey, this is your rate, are you feeling alright? Is there anything I could get you to get your rate up? Like a snack, a drink, whatever,\u201d Smith said.<\/p>\n Wiggin interviewed 42 BHM1 employees following the first election in 2021, and reviewed NLRB records of hearings. The facility employed more than 5,800 workers at the time of the union drive.<\/p>\n The NLRB last November\u00a0ordered a third union vote\u00a0to be held at BHM1 after finding Amazon improperly interfered in two previous elections. The company has denied wrongdoing.<\/p>\n Amazon staffers told Wiggin that during the union campaign, the company tweaked some performance expectations to \u201cimprove working conditions\u201d and dissuade them from unionizing. One employee said these changes were partly why he voted against the union, according to the study.<\/p>\n Workers at an Amazon warehouse outside St. Louis, Missouri, filed\u00a0an\u00a0NLRB complaint\u00a0in May. The employees accused Amazon of using \u201cintrusive algorithms\u201d that track when they\u2019re working to discourage them from organizing,\u00a0The Guardian reported. The employees withdrew their complaint on Tuesday.<\/p>\n Hards said Amazon doesn\u2019t require employees to meet specific productivity speeds or targets.<\/p>\n Lawmakers zeroed in on how surveillance can impact organizing efforts in recent years. In 2022, the former NLRB general counsel\u00a0issued a memo\u00a0calling for the group to address corporate use of \u201comnipresent surveillance and other algorithmic-management tools\u201d to disrupt organizing efforts. The following year, the Biden Administration put out a\u00a0request for information\u00a0on automated worker surveillance and management, noting that the systems can pose risks to employees, including \u201ctheir rights to form or join a labor union.\u201d<\/p>\n However, the Trump administration is attempting to\u00a0purge the NLRB, with the president firing the chair of the organization on his first day in office last month. Trump has\u00a0put Musk, a notorious opponent of unions, in charge of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, with the goal of cutting government costs and slashing regulations.<\/p>\n One of the most direct ways Amazon is able to disseminate anti-union messages is through the AtoZ app, which is an essential tool in their daily work.<\/p>\n The app is used by warehouse workers to access pay stubs and tax forms, request schedule changes or vacation time, post on the \u201cVoice of the Associate\u201d message board, and communicate with human resources.<\/p>\n Jennifer Bates, a prominent union organizer at BHM1,\u00a0learned Amazon fired her\u00a0through AtoZ in 2023. She was later\u00a0reinstated by Amazon\u00a0\u201cafter a full review of her case,\u201d and provided backpay, Hards said.<\/p>\n The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which sought to represent BHM1 workers,\u00a0has said\u00a0the AtoZ app can access a user\u2019s GPS, photos, camera, microphone and WiFi-connection information. The union also claims that \u201cAmazon can sell the data collected to any third party companies and that data cannot be deleted.\u201d The technology raises several concerns, including that it may suppress \u201cthe right to organize,\u201d RWDSU said.<\/p>\n Hards said the RWDSU\u2019s claims are inaccurate and denied that the company sells any data affiliated with AtoZ use. She said AtoZ users must give the app permission to access things like their GPS location.<\/p>\n At the Garner facility, the AtoZ app has been plastered with \u201canti-union propaganda\u201d since the RDU1 election was announced last month, Medelius-Marsano said.<\/p>\n One AtoZ message suggested employees\u2019 benefits could be at risk if they voted in a union, while another described CAUSE as an \u201coutside party\u201d that\u2019s \u201cclaiming to be a union.\u201d<\/p>\n RDU1 site leader Kristen Tettemer said in another message that a group like CAUSE \u201ccan get in the way of how we work together,\u201d and that \u201conce in, a union is very difficult to remove.\u201d Smith said Amazon\u2019s response to the union drive has been centered around \u201cputting out the facts and telling you to do your research.\u201d<\/p>\n Medelius-Marsano said it all amounts to an environment of intimidation.<\/p>\n \u201cThere\u2019s no doubt about it,\u201d Medelius-Marsano said. \u201cIf we lose, fear is going to be the reason.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Italo Medelius-Marsano was a law student at North Carolina Central University in 2022, when he took a job at an\u00a0Amazon\u00a0warehouse near the city of Raleigh to earn some extra cash. The past month has been unlike any other during his three-year tenure at the company. 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