Amazon must reinstate 'unlawfully' fired worker, judge rules

Amazon must reinstate a worker who was fired from a fulfilment center on Staten Island in the aftermath of a protest two years ago, a judge has ruled.

Benjamin Green, an administrative law judge, agreed with the regional director of the National Labor Relations Board, who argued that Gerald Bryson's firing in 2020 was linked to him protesting safety conditions, rather than as a result of him exchanging insults with a colleague who wanted the center to stay open, per the New York Times.

Amazon must now rehire Bryson and pay the wages he's lost.

"For me to win and walk back through those doors changes everything," Bryson told the Times. "It will show that Amazon can be beat. It will show you have to fight for what you believe in."

The Staten Island facility that Bryson was fired from is the same one that's recently made headlines after becoming Amazon's first unionized U.S. workplace, following a vote of 2,654 to 2,131. The former Amazon employee who organized the effort, like Bryson, was fired back in 2020 during safety protests.

Both the unionization and Bryson's rehiring are notable given Amazon's controversial history of worker relations. The company has been accused of union busting in the past after it used tactics to encourage workers at a factory in Bessemer, Alabama, to vote "no" during a unionziation election in 2021, which resulted in the effort failing (if you want to learn more about the criticism the company's received, John Oliver's deep dive into union busting is well worth checking out).

An Amazon spokesperson told the New York Times that the company intends to appeal this latest ruling, but for now it's another victory for workers to add to the very small, but growing, list.