--- title: Amazon settles a major labor complaint. Workers may now be able to unionize - The Hustle description: Amazon settles with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to allow its workers to more easily organize union activity at the warehouse. image: https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/GIFs/1938237174-Amazon-gif.webp --- # Amazon settles a major labor complaint. Workers may now be able to unionize ![Trung T. Phan](https://thehustle.co/wp-content/uploads/2020/04/Image-from-iOS-300x300.jpg?width=48&height=48&name=Image-from-iOS-300x300.jpg) [Trung T. Phan](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/author/trung-t-phan) [Trung T. Phan Twitter profile ](https://twitter.com/TrungTPhan) Published: December 27, 2021 Updated: October 11, 2023 Jeff Bezos founded Amazon in 1994. ![Amazon settles a major labor complaint. Workers may now be able to unionize](https://hs-sbup.thehustle.co/hs-fs/hubfs/The%20Hustle%20News/Assets/GIFs/1938237174-Amazon-gif.webp?width=595&height=400&name=1938237174-Amazon-gif.webp) One of the original names he picked for the company was — this is not a joke — “relentless.” While good taste prevailed in the end, Amazon has pursued a relentless strategy in all facets of business… #### **… including against worker unionization** However, things may soon change after the company reached a settlement with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) last week, per [*NPR*](https://www.npr.org/2021/12/23/1067698799/amazon-nlrb-union). This result comes after Amazon warehouse workers — in 6 separate [cases](https://www.nytimes.com/2021/12/23/technology/amazon-labor-deal.html?referringSource=articleShare) — told the board that the ecommerce giant was blocking union organizing efforts. Amazon interference was a major talking point following a (failed) union vote at an Alabama warehouse last April. #### **The road to unionization?** According to *NPR*, Amazon will change its union stance by: - **Emailing current and past employees** (anyone who worked between March 2021 and now) about their right to organize - **Creating more room **for unionization activities within its buildings - **Not** **threatening or disciplining** workers for organizing in “exterior non-work areas during non-work time” Further, the NLRB will have a straightforward path to suing Amazon if it doesn’t abide by this nationwide settlement. #### **Unions have been trending down for decades** Per the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), 20% of US workers were union members in 1983. Today, it’s only [11%](https://www.cnbc.com/2021/02/05/union-enrollment-declined-for-decades-but-union-workers-still-earn-more.html). But, Amazon — with 750k employees — is a clear bellwether as the 2nd largest private employer in America after Walmart. The settlement comes as workers at other companies (e.g., Kellogg’s, John Deere) have organized high-profile strikes, and could lead to relentless change for unionization in America. **Fun fact:** Bezos still owns the URL to [www.relentless.com](http://www.relentless.com/) and it redirects to… well, you can probably guess. 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