Amazon Workers Now Have More Power To Organize With New Settlement

A settlement finalized on Wednesday between Amazon and the National Labor Relations Board has made it easier for Amazon workers to unionize.

Six unnamed Amazon workers said the company limited their ability to organize.

Amazon workers across the U.S. continue to push for unionization, but the online retail company has made that difficult for workers to do. Previously, Amazon has told International Business Times that while it supports the rights of its workers to unionize, it believes that unions are not the best answer.

“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees. Every day we empower people to find ways to improve their jobs, and when they do that we want to make those changes — quickly. That type of continuous improvement is harder to do quickly and nimbly with unions in the middle,” Kelly Nantel, an Amazon spokesperson, wrote in a statement included in an email.

Unions across the country have gone on strike in recent weeks and months to demand more from their employers with varying degrees of success. The unions have been able to demand more from their employers in terms of pay, working conditions and benefits.

Multiple reports suggest that Amazon has had a key role in discouraging unionizing at multiple warehouses across the country. The company has also been in the news about the terrible working conditions workers endure.

With the settlement, Amazon agrees to not do anything to prevent employees from “form, join, or assist a union, choose a representative to bargain with us on your behalf, act together with other employees for your benefit and protection, choose not to engage in any of these protected activities.”

Amazon also agreed not to retaliate against any employee who engages in these activities.