LEAKED notes from a meeting between Jeff Bezos and other Amazon bosses revealed a plan to reportedly “smear” a fired employee – calling him “not smart or articulate”.
Disgruntled ex-employee Christian Smalls was given the boot on Monday after he led a coronavirus walkout with other Amazon workers.
Smalls, 31, who worked at a Staten Island distribution warehouse, staged a walkout with 15 other employees
Smalls, 31, who worked at a Staten Island distribution warehouse, believes he is being ‘silenced’
“He’s not smart, or articulate, and to the extent the press wants to focus on us versus him, we will be in a much stronger PR position than simply explaining for the umpteenth time how we’re trying to protect workers,” wrote Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky in the notes seen by Vice.
Smalls, 31, who worked at a Staten Island distribution warehouse, believes he is being “silenced” for speaking out against the company’s “flawed” Covid-19 policy.
After being fired following the protest, Smalls claims he was singled out after he demanded that bosses became more transparent about the number of sick workers.
‘NOT SMART OR ARTICULATE’
He and some of his fellow employees demanded the warehouse to be closed and cleaned after at least one worker tested positive.
Amazon bosses say Smalls’ contract was terminated for “putting the health and safety of others at risk.”
They claimed Smalls breached their request for him to stay at home after coming into contact with an infected employee.
Smalls says the positive employee came into contact with many other workers for long periods of time before her test came back – stressing that it could have spread throughout the building.
In the notes revealed to Vice, Zapolsky wrote: “We should spend the first part of our response strongly laying out the case for why the organizer’s conduct was immoral, unacceptable, and arguably illegal, in detail, and only then follow with our usual talking points about worker safety.
“Make him the most interesting part of the story, and if possible make him the face of the entire union/organizing movement.”
Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos was in attendance at the meeting, according to the Vice report.
The conversation happened during the daily meeting where management updated one another on the coronavirus situation.
Amazon SVP of Global Corporate Affairs Jay Carney told CNN on Sunday: “We go over the update on what’s happening around the world with our employees and with our customers and our businesses.
“We also spend a significant amount of time just brainstorming about what else we can do” about COVID-19.”
The notes also revealed Amazon’s plans to stock up on millions of protective gear for workers, as well as producing and selling its own masks.
In a statement, Zapolsky said: “I was frustrated and upset that an Amazon employee would endanger the health and safety of other Amazonians by repeatedly returning to the premises after having been warned to quarantine himself after exposure to virus Covid-19.”
He added: “I let my emotions draft my words and get the better of me.”
Smalls and his army of employees demanded the warehouse to be closed and cleaned after at least one worker tested positive
Amazon bosses say Smalls’ contract was terminated for ‘putting the health and safety of others at risk’. Bezos, right, was in attendance at the meeting