Amazon fired at least 50 warehouse employees who refused to take their shifts following a trash compactor fire at one of its New York facilities, union organizers said.
The company fired paid workers on Tuesday a day after the fire disrupted operations at the Staten Island warehouse that it voted to unionize earlier this year.
Derrick Palmer, vice president of the Amazon Workers Union, said day shift workers were sent home paid because of the fire, which began Monday afternoon. But the night shift employees, who had just arrived for their shift, were told to stay in a break area until management resolved the situation, he said.
Dozens of workers began to worry about safety. Some were concerned that the air in the facility was unsafe to breathe due to the smoke from the fire. Eventually, a hundred or so workers sat down at the company headquarters to ask to be sent home with their salaries.
“They were saying ‘we don’t feel safe, we don’t feel safe working,'” Palmer said.
Amazon spokesman Paul Flaningan said in a statement that the company had asked all night shift employees to show up Monday after New York firefighters certified the building’s safety.
“Although the vast majority of employees reported their work, a small group refused to return to work and stayed in the building without permission,” Flaningan said. Some workers left, while others continued to protest, according to organizers.
Suspended workers were notified by email and telephone that their security cards would remain inactive for the duration of the investigation, Palmer said.
The suspensions are in effect indefinitely while the company investigates. The number of redundant workers could increase. Seth Goldstein, a union attorney, said the workers intend to file a lawsuit against Amazon for unfair labor practices to the National Labor Relations Board.
Amazon filed more than two dozen objections to the agency to overturn the union’s victory in April. Meanwhile, warehouse workers from another facility near Albany, New York, will vote in their union elections next week.
