Leaked notes from an internal Amazon meeting between leadership revealed the trillion dollar company planned to vilify a fired warehouse employee as part of a PR strategy after he led a walkout over coronavirus health concerns.
It was also revealed that Amazon attempted to buy millions of protective masks for staffers and has considered producing its own masks.
In the memo obtained by Vice News, top Amazon executives planned to smear 31-year-old Christian Smalls, a management assistant, after he spearheaded a walkout of several employees on March 30.
Amazon workers at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse strike in demand that the facility be shut down and cleaned after one staffer tested positive for the coronavirus
Vice News obtained meeting notes from Amazon General Counsel David Zapolsky (pictured) that reportedly show top executives discussing fired employee Christian Smalls
Smalls claimed that company had not provided adequate protective gear or cleaned the Staten Island warehouse after at least seven workers fell ill.
They referred to him as ‘not smart’ and discussed placing Smalls as the face of the workers’ walkout.
Christian Smalls (pictured), 31, led a employee walkout at a Staten Island Amazon warehouse over health concerns
‘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 memo, which took place at a day meeting and included CEO Jeff Bezos, Zapolsky’s notes reportedly show executives mapping how to navigate bad press of Smalls’ firing.
They allegedly wanted to make Smalls the center of Amazon’s narrative about worker safety.
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.’
The memo allegedly showed executives considering using Smalls to discredit the company’s labor movement.
Workers at Amazon’s fulfillment center in Staten Island protested work conditions in the company’s warehouse on March 30 over claims that the warehouse had not been cleaned after confirmed coronavirus cases
Pictured: Employees protesting outside a Staten Island warehouse on March 30
Amazon has since fired Smalls from the company, a move that he said is in retaliation for begging management to sanitize the warehouse and be more transparent about sick workers.
‘They pretty much retaliated against me for speaking out,’ said Smalls to the New York Post. ‘I don’t know how they sleep at night.’
‘There are positive cases working in these buildings infecting thousands,’ warehouse worker Smalls wrote on Twitter.
But Amazon said he was fired for violating a company-mandated 14-day quarantine after he was in contact with an infected employee.
Smalls (center) said Amazon fired him in retaliation for speaking out against uncleaned facilities and asking for more transparency
On April 1, New York state recorded more than 8,600 new coronavirus cases after a concerning high of 9,2988 cases on March 30
At least 432 New Yorkers died of coronavirus on April 1, as the disease continues to spread across the country and overwhelm healthcare workers
Smalls’ location, known as JFK8, started an effort to unionize workers in 2018.
Of the memo, Zapolsky told Vice News that his ‘comments were personal and emotional.’
‘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,’ said Zapolsky.
‘I let my emotions draft my words and get the better of me,’ he added.
The notes also reportedly explore Amazon’s concerns with the pandemic -which has infected more than 216,000 and killed 5,100 in the US – and its efforts to increase testing.
Workers say the company ‘has still not provided essential protections’ during the coronavirus outbreak which has seen some workers become ill
The day meeting between top Amazon executives reportedly included CEO Jeff Bezos (pictured)
Zapolsky wrote that testing all employees, even asymptomatic ones, could be beneficial for the company.
He wrote: ‘That can have benefits both for the system and for our employees. Every test we do is incremental and is one less test that existing resources have to do.’
Amazon discussed PR strategies over their face masks supply with ‘different and bold’ ways of handing out extra masks to hospitals and independent grocery stores.
‘If we can get masks in quantity it’s a fantastic gift if we donate strategically,’ wrote Zapolsky.
‘Another idea for giving masks away — give 1,000 masks to every police station in the country,’ he said, adding that it may ‘reminds folks it’s not just medical workers who need these.’
Vice News said Amazon executives brainstormed different ways to obtain or produce masks. Working with other companies with resources to make masks was also suggested.
Thus far, Zapolsky wrote that Amazon has at least 10million masks for ‘our operations guys’, with an additional 25million coming from a supplier in the next two weeks.
‘There are ways of making FDA approved surgical and other masks from fabric and we’re working with those manufacturers as well,’ said the notes.
The notes said that that Center for Disease Prevention and Control would recommend face masks to citizens, if not for a supply shortage.
‘CDC’s hesitancy to recommend masks has been to manage supply (though that’s a bad reason to sacrifice scientific integrity),’ said Zapolsky.
Pictured: A New York City Amazon worker protests Amazon with a sign reading ‘treat your workers like your customers’
Although Amazon reportedly has a ‘line of sight’ on a supply of N95 masks, the company is ‘starting to put together internal efforts’ for face mask production.
This task was described as ‘more of a nine month type project.’
Finally, the notes hint that Amazon’s attempts to buy N95 masks from China before plans came to a halt.
Zapolsky wrote: ‘China has deemed N95 masks as “strategic”. They’re keeping them for optionality. They also want to use them for ‘diplomacy.’ The masks in China that we thought we had probably got redirected by profiteers.’
This news comes after Bezos donated $100million to Feeding America. The donation will go directly to supplying more food as the usual donations from catering businesses are scarce due to the forced closure of restaurants.
As the coronavirus pandemic has forced millions of people out of work -with 6.6million people apply for unemployment claims – some companies are continuing to hire.
This includes Amazon, Whole Foods Market, CVS, Walmart, Dollar General, Instacart, Papa John’s, Domino’s Pizza and Stop & Shop.
In New York state, there are more than 92,000 confirmed cases and 2,373 deaths. The city has seen more than 47,000 cases and 1,374 deaths.