Workers seek inquiry into reasons for Amazon layoffs

Workers seek inquiry into reasons for Amazon layoffs

Wednesday, January 31, 2001

By PAUL NYHAN
SEATTLE POST-INTELLIGENCER REPORTER

Only hours after Amazon.com disclosed a plan to lay off 1,300 workers, a local labor group called for an investigation into whether some Seattle workers were targeted because of their union efforts.

Over the last year, Amazon has emerged as one of the battlegrounds in the new economy for unions. Organized labor has tried to make inroads at Amazon and other e-commerce concerns, with limited success.

At Seattle-based Amazon local customer service representatives have been attempting to win the support of 400 other workers to form a union.

Yesterday, the Washington Alliance of Technology Workers, or WashTech, said it would ask the National Labor Relations Board to investigate whether the company "specifically target(ed) Seattle Customer Service (employees) due to union activity," said Marcus Courtney, WashTech co-founder.

Amazon Chief Executive Officer Jeff Bezos rejected that claim.

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"It is completely unrelated. Everyone is being offered the opportunity to relocate," Bezos said. "It is the high cost of doing business in Seattle."

It is unclear how much clout WashTech will have to press for an investigation. The affiliate of the Communications Workers of America was still working on a campaign to organize Amazon employees.

Officials at the National Labor Relations Board, a division of the Labor Department, were not available for comment.

In the wake of the announcement, employees involved in the union drive said they were angry and shocked by the depth of the job cuts.

"My friends were sacrificed for Wall Street," said Zach Works, a customer service specialist, who retained his job. "Our goal has been to gain recognition as a union (and) hopefully to be able to avoid layoffs."

Amazon plans to lay off more than 300 of the workers May 4 and another 70 to 100 employees May 25, according to several Amazon employees. However, some employees were let go yesterday.

As long as most employees follow certain rules, they will receive lump-sum payments worth 12 weeks of pay and a separate $500 payment to help cover medical benefits, according to documents provided by WashTech.

Workers will also qualify for a special trust fund, which will distribute Amazon stock to the laid-off workers in 2003.

Some Amazon workers said Amazon was making a mistake by shipping work to areas with cheaper, and less experienced, labor. Bezos said the decision was correct but complex.

"The decision is very simple from a business point of view, but very complex from a human distress aspect," Bezos said.

P-I reporter Paul Nyhan can be reached at 206-448-8145 or paulnyhan@seattle-pi.com