Amazon warehouse employees in St. Peters file unfair labor practice charge against company

ST. PETERS, Mo. (First Alert 4) - Amazon workers in St. Peters are accusing the company of surveilling them and preventing them from organizing.

According to the Missouri Workers Center, STL8 warehouse workers filed an Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charge with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) Monday.

A charging document with the NLRB states that within the last six months, Amazon “has maintained intrusive algorithms and other workplace controls and surveillance which interfere with Section 7 rights [of the National Labor Relations Act] of employees to engage in protected concerted activity.”

Michael Duff is a professor at Saint Louis University School (SLU) of Law specializing in labor law. He sat down with First Alert 4 to discuss the nature of the charge.

“The theory of the charge is if the employer is surveilling me or watching me, many people would feel like I can’t do this kind of organizing because the boss would get mad at me if I do that,” he explained.

He said what comes next is a lengthy process that begins with a weeks-long investigation by the NLRB.

They’ll want to hear from witnesses who will explain what’s been happening in the workplace and so there’s a time period when all the charging parties, in other words, the workers, witnesses are heard and then the NLRB will turn to the employer to get their side of the story, and the board will make a preliminary administrative determination.

According to the NLRB, based on that determination, if they find a law was violated, they try to help the parties settle or issue a complaint.

In a statement, a spokesperson for Amazon said: “To be clear, there’s been no finding of unlawful activity by the NLRB. The fact is this charge, which was just filed, has yet to be investigated or proven.”

Duff said there is much to learn over the next few weeks.

“I think this is only one small battle in the war, a very large war into the working conditions pertaining to warehouse workers in the United States,” he said.

According to the NLRB, an initial investigation could take up to 14 weeks.