Name: Amazon Is Spending the Last Week of the Union Vote Trying to Come Up With Epic Twitter Owns
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Amazon Is Spending the Last Week of the Union Vote Trying to Come Up With Epic Twitter Owns

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AdvertisementAdvertisementThe closely watched at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, is in its final days. On Tuesday, Amazon will find out whether enough workers have voted to form the company’s first unionized workplace. The battle over the union drive has been fierce, generating media attention as Amazon’s tactics to undermine organizers—like forcing workers to attend —has come under scrutiny. It’s a delicate moment for the national image of the e-commerce giant, which has been shown by surveys to be one of the brands in America. For some reason, however, Amazon’s PR team is trying to make it through the union drive’s final stretch by tweeting through it.AdvertisementAmazon’s social-media accounts have taken on a more pugnacious tenor in recent days. Much of this is coming from @amazonnews account, which has taken to picking fights with politicians and journalists. The interaction that’s generated the most attention began with Dave Clark, Amazon’s CEO of worldwide consumer, who called out Vermont Sen. Bernie Sanders on Twitter. Sharing a news article about Sanders’ plans to travel to Alabama to visit with union organizers, Clark that Amazon actually upholds more progressive ideals than the senator does by paying workers $15 an hour. Wisconsin Rep. Mark Pocan then entered the fray, at Clark, “Paying workers $15/hr doesn’t make you a ‘progressive workplace’ when you union-bust &amp; make workers urinate in water bottles.” That’s when @amazonnews stepped in to reply, “You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us.”AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisement1/2 You don’t really believe the peeing in bottles thing, do you? If that were true, nobody would work for us. The truth is that we have over a million incredible employees around the world who are proud of what they do, and have great wages and health care from day one.— Amazon News (@amazonnews)Reporters almost immediately refuted that claim, citing a confirming that workers have in fact had to pee in bottles to keep up with productivity mandates in Amazon facilities. Vice’s Lauren Kaori Gurley obtained of pee bottles. (@amazonnews separately called Gurley a “” critic for her on the A.I.-powered surveillance system that Amazon uses to monitor its workers.) The Intercept’s Ken Klippenstein got ahold of showing that Amazon management is well aware of employees not only peeing in bottles, but also defecating in bags.AdvertisementDon’t believe the self-interested critics who claim these cameras are intended for anything other than safety. Our pilot data showed crashes decreased 48%, stop sign violations decreased 20%, driving without a seat belt decreased 60%, and distracted driving decreased 45%.— Amazon News (@amazonnews)AdvertisementAdvertisementThis wasn’t @amazonnews’ only ill-conceived attempt at dunking on people on Twitter. The account also a piece from criticizing the film Nomadland for glossing over the more punishing aspects of working in an Amazon warehouse and claimed, without evidence, that the author “decided to write a fiction piece based on opinion instead of facts” and that “nearly every claim in this post is either false or misleading.” It’s continued to slide into senators’ mentions. “You make the tax laws @SenWarren; we just follow them,” @amazonnews tweeted at Sen. Elizabeth Warren. “If you don’t like the laws you’ve created, by all means, change them.” Warren that Amazon’s lobbyists have been instrumental in developing tax loopholes and that she’s fighting to break up Big Tech so that “you’re not powerful enough to heckle senators with snotty tweets.” The account , “This is extraordinary and revealing. One of the most powerful politicians in the United States just said she’s going to break up an American company so that they can’t criticize her anymore.” The account tried to take at Sanders, taunting the senator over Vermont’s $11.75 minimum wage. An Amazon robotics engineer to the tweet, “why does corporate PR think it’s a good idea to target the most popular politician in recent American history? We are destroying our public image.” Nearly all of the account’s tweets from the law few days have been summarilyAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThis is extraordinary and revealing. One of the most powerful politicians in the United States just said she’s going to break up an American company so that they can’t criticize her anymore. — Amazon News (@amazonnews)AdvertisementThe activity from @amazonnews is notable in that it is far more aggressive and abrasive than the company’s other social media efforts, but that’s been . The company has notoriously marshalled warehouse workers to sing their employer’s praises as “Amazon FC Ambassadors.” These ambassadors are also increasingly flooding pro-union Twitter users with have no need for a bargaining unit, albeit with a slightly less standoffish tone than @amazonnews’. The company Facebook and Instagram ads for its anti-union DoItWithoutDues.com website at workers in Bessemer, and it’s tried to make the hashtag #DoItWithoutDues into an anti-union rallying cry on Twitter—though that’s largely been coopted by the company’s critics.Advertisementwatching the takeover of &amp; folks spamming is delicious. now who's got tiktoks? — Rachel Jackson (@rayjax1)AdvertisementAdvertisement

AdvertisementAdvertisementThe closely watched at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama, is in its final days. On Tuesday, Amazon will find out whether enough workers have voted to form the company’s first unionized workplace. The battle over the union drive has been fierce, generating media attention as Amazon’s tactics to undermine organizers—like forcing workers to attend —has come under scrutiny. It’s a delicate moment for the national image of the e-commerce giant, which has been shown by surveys to be one of the brands in America. For some reason, however, Amazon’s PR team...

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Amazon Is Spending the Last Week of the Union Vote Trying to Come Up With Epic Twitter Owns

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