The National Labor Relations Board, an independent federal agency that enforces the National Labor Rights Act, has opened an investigation into Amazon for possible workers' rights violations at its Air Hub facility at Cincinnati Northern Kentucky International Airport.
Last week, the NLRB issued a complaint containing charges filed by Amazon Air Hub workers against the company for allegedly engaging in illegal union-busting efforts.
Since 2022, workers at the facility have tried to form a union, but organizers have repeatedly claimed that management tried to squash those efforts by intimidating, interrogating, and spying on pro-union workers.
The complaint states management told employees they were not permitted to hand out flyers in favor of unionization and intimidated those workers who did by telling them they knew they had been soliciting employees on the workroom floor, implying their pro-union activities were under surveillance.
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It also states Amazon leadership required employees to attend mandatory meetings to discourage them from supporting the union. The complaint also alleges managers threatened to call police on non-employee union organizers for talking to workers in the facility's parking lot.
Marcio Rodriquez, a pro-union ramp worker at CVG, claims after he and other employees were caught distributing flyers to their peers, he was routinely pulled from his duties to be questioned by a team of managers.
"They would show up to where I was working out on the ramp in front of my co-workers in a truck full of managers and take me to the HR office," Rodriquez said. "This was just a way to try to intimidate me. I remember thinking, 'Great, here they come again, in their little clown car to interrogate me.' "
Others like Jordan Quinn, who works in the sorting center at CVG, say the action by the NLRB was a long time coming. He hopes the federal agency can step in to hold Amazon accountable.
"We've been saying all along that they've been breaking the law," Quinn said. "We know they're scared of our organizing drive, that's exactly why they're willing to take these kind of egregious steps. But I think it's heartening to know that the federal government is taking them to court over it."
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Even with complaints from the NLRB, local union organizers are encouraging Amazon Air Hub workers to continue to ramp up their pro-union efforts. This recent filing was far from the first workers' rights complaint filed against Amazon. Just last month, attorneys for the company argued that the NLRB was unconstitutional.
"You all landed a punch," Cincinnati AFL-CIO Executive Secretary-Treasurer Brian Griffin said, speaking to Amazon hub workers on Thursday. "But this fight is just about to get hot."
Tension between Amazon and its workers at CVG has continued to rise since 2022. Earlier this year, the Air hub's top union organizer, Brian Ritze, was fired from his tug driver position after he claimed he tried to attend an anti-union information session hosted by Amazon executives.
Amazon says Ritze's firing had nothing to do with his organizing work.
In response to the NLRB's recent complaint, Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis says the allegations in the filing are without merit and claims the company's solicitation policy is lawful, adding that the charges within the agency's complaint have yet to be proven.
A hearing for the investigation is set for April 22 at the NLRB's office in Cincinnati.
