Amazon has apologized for a couple of tweets from its corporate news account attacking Rep. Mark Pocan (D-California) for criticizing the company’s work environment amid a large unionized push at a compliance center in Alabama.
“That was our own goal, we are unhappy with that and apologize to Rep. Pocan,” Amazon said in a statement Friday.
Pocan responded Saturday morning.
“She is OK. It is not about me, but about your workers, whom you do not treat with enough respect or dignity, ”he wrote.
Amazon has been fighting a union at a facility in Bessemer, Alabama, that threatens to give a boost to unionization efforts elsewhere in the country. The company raised its eyebrows last week over a series of unusual responses to politicians tweeting about its workers and business practices.
It was a strategy that came from the top: Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos wanted his corporate communications team to respond more aggressively against unfair internship charges, according to Recode.
Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Among others, has expressed strong support for the push by Amazon workers to improve conditions. Last Wednesday, Amazon executive Dave Clark welcomed the senator to the Alabama facility in a tweet thanking him sarcastically for his work on behalf of American workers.
“I often say we’re entrepreneurs Bernie Sanders, but it’s not entirely right because we really offer a progressive job,” Clark said.
It was Pocan who jumped to respond to Clark. “Paying workers $ 15 an hour doesn’t make you a‘ progressive job ’when you reject unions and make workers urinate in water bottles,” he tweeted.
Amazon News, an Amazon corporate Twitter account, responded to Pocan in a tone similar to Clark’s.
“You really don’t believe in urinating in bottles, do you? If that were true, no one would work for us, ”the tweet said.
In fact, it is well documented that Amazon workers are subject to strict and physically demanding protocols. Some workers say they sometimes take extreme measures to avoid stopping their work, because an excess of “free time,” as Amazon calls breaks, can lead to discipline.
However, it is less common for Amazon warehouse workers to take direct access to the bathroom than delivery drivers, who have difficulty finding public restrooms, especially during the coronavirus pandemic.
In its statement Friday, Amazon acknowledged that the tweet was wrong.
“He didn’t contemplate our large population of drivers and instead focused wrongly only on our satisfaction centers,” the company explained, saying he is aware that delivery drivers struggle to find bathrooms and are committed to helping to find a solution to the “industry-wide” problem.
Then, Amazon differentiated its drivers from the workers of its realization center.
“A typical Amazon compliance center has dozens of restrooms and employees can walk away from their workstation at any time. If an employee of a compliance center has a different experience, we encourage him to talk to his manager and we will work to solve it ”.
Amazon’s apologies to Pocan were posted Friday afternoon, which could be interpreted as an effort to post it quietly. The company also continued to be a mother in other Amazon News tweets addressed to Sanders and the senator. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), Which has also proven to be one of Amazon’s strongest criticisms in Congress.
Amazon workers have already voted on the issue of unionization, but their ballots are still being counted, according to AL.com. About 6,000 ballots were sent. The results are expected next week.
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