Richard Brian/Reuters
Amazon boss Andy Jassy said a union would hurt the company’s workers.
Earlier this month, an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, voted to unionize.
Amazon has waged a protracted anti-union campaign and is questioning the results.
Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said Thursday he believes union representation would not benefit the company’s many workers.
“It’s the choice of workers whether they want to join a union or not,” Jassy said during one Interview with CNBC Squawk Box. “We think they’re better off not doing that, for at least a couple of reasons.”
Jassy said that Amazon “empowers” its employees and that a union could negatively impact an employee’s relationship with their manager.
“[At Amazon] If they see something they can do better for clients or for themselves, they can get together in a room, decide how they can change it and change it,” Jassy said. “You don’t get that kind of empowerment when you have unions. It’s a lot more bureaucratic, it’s a lot slower.”
Earlier this month, an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York, voted to unionize. It is the first Amazon store in the US to successfully unionize. Workers are fighting for the right to collective bargaining over working conditions, including issues such as safety standards, training, rest, pay and benefits.
The company is contesting this vote and has waged a lengthy and costly anti-union campaign. The company spent $4.3 million last year to quash union votes in Staten Island and in Bessemer, Alabama, according to Labor Department filings previously reported by HuffPost.
Jassy said the company has long worked to provide workers with “competitive and compelling benefits,” citing the company’s 20-week paid parental leave and career choice program for workers who want to go to college.
By and large, Amazon has led retailers in raising wages. Last fall, the company increased its average starting wage to $18 an hour.
The story goes on
Amazon has also come under scrutiny for high injury rates at its fulfillment centers. On Tuesday, the Strategic Organizing Center (SOC) released a report showing Amazon warehouse workers are twice as likely to suffer serious injuries as other competitors.
Jassy addressed the issue in a letter to shareholders on Thursday.
“Our injury rates are sometimes misunderstood,” Jassy wrote.
He said the company has roles that fit both warehousing and courier and delivery categories. The CEO said Amazon’s injury rates are higher than other storage companies but lower than delivery companies, which he says makes the company “roughly average compared to peers.”
“When I first started in my new role, I spent a lot of time in our fulfillment centers and with our security team, hoping there might be a silver bullet that could quickly change the numbers,” Jassy wrote. “I didn’t find that.”
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