Amazon, which recently bought Whole Foods, is pulling out the union-busting playbook to prevent Whole Foods workers from organizing. That effort includes a 45-minute anti-union video, intended to train low-level managers to identify union supporters and quash organizing efforts, that recently leaked to Gizmodo. While Gizmodo “opted to not publish the video itself in order to maintain source anonymity” because it was someone’s recording of the video, the report makes clear that any experienced union organizer could have predicted much of the message in advance.
Like the “a union comes between workers and their supervisors; we have an open door for employees” message that workers already know is a lie. Amazon calls it “direct management,” but:
“[Amazon] preaches that they have this open-door policy and then when you try to go through that open door, instead of being allowed in, you are now set up,” a former Fulfillment Center worker in Indiana told Gizmodo.
Red flags for managers include use of the words “living wage,” workers hanging around the break room after a shift, and “unusual interest in policies, benefits, employee lists, or other company information.” And the surveillance is intended to lead to direct intervention:
While warning managers that activities like threatening employees cross a line, giving personal opinions that accomplish nearly the same are within their rights. “Opinions can be mild, like, ‘I’d rather work with associates directly,’ or strong: ‘Unions are lying, cheating rats.’ The law protects both!”
Throughout, managers are encouraged to express opinions against unions to their workers, and any of signs of potential organization are supposed to be escalated to human resources and general managers immediately.
This is all absolutely typical of a corporate anti-union effort—but being typical doesn’t make it less appalling.
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