Amazon Comes Under Crosshair Of NYC Regulators

The city of New York tasked a human-rights watchdog group with investigating allegations e-commerce behemoth Amazon wrongfully terminated an employee who was leading a strike, The Wall Street Journal reported.

Amazon fires Chris Smalls

Amazon confirmed Monday it terminated Chris Smalls, a New York City warehouse stock worker for violating social-distancing rules and failure to stay home for 14 days after potential exposure to the coronavirus from a co-worker who became infected. However, a coalition that represents Amazon workers called Athena allege the termination is a direct result of his vocal opposition to the company.

Specifically, Smalls became vocal against conditions at the Amazon warehouse and played a leadership role in spearheading multiple walkouts at Amazon factories across the U.S.

On Tuesday, New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio acknowledged at a press conference the Commission on Human Rights is looking into the allegations of improper terminations. If there is reason to believe a violation occurred, the former Democrat presidential candidate said it would “be a violation of our city’s human-rights law, and we would act on it immediately.”

Amazon plays defense

A spokeswoman for Amazon told The Wall Street Journal all accusations of wrongdoings are unfound. The company insists the termination is a result of him “putting the health and safety of others at risk and violations of his terms of employment.”

“We did not terminate Mr. Smalls’s employment for organizing a 15-person protest,” the statement also read.

Walkouts extend to Whole Foods

Amazon’s fully owned grocery store chain Whole Foods is dealing with a similar situation. On Tuesday, dozens of workers failed to show up to work as they demanded better pay and increased safety measures amid the coronavirus pandemic.

But the grocery chain was able to conduct business as usual and the company separately confirmed with The Wall Street Journal the level of absenteeism wasn’t elevated. 

Employees were given a $2 per hour pay increase but some workers believe the raise doesn’t go far enough. One organization of Tuesday’s walk-out was quoted as saying employees are “risking our lives every day to be a part of a pandemic that we didn’t ask to be a part of.”

Amazon is far from alone in dealing with displeased workers. Some of Instacart's “gig workers” launched a strike on Monday. Employees demanded the company increase their hazard pay by $5 extra per order and increase the default tip amount beyond 10%, among other demands.

Management’s offer fell well short of what was asked, including a fixed bonus of $25 to $200 instead of a per-order bonus, a default tip amount based on prior orders, and others.