Business Ethics: Amazon’s Anti-Unionization Policy

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Table of Contents

Introduction
Background of the Policy
Why the Policy is Unethical
Possible Changes to the Policy
Conclusion
References

Introduction

Global business ethics constitutes an international code of conduct that establishes ethical guidelines for firms and employees. Although most firms have informal and formal ethics codes, global business operations introduce various gray areas where employee and employer expectations may be unknown or unclear. Globalization, technological change, and deregulation supported the rapid growth of today’s multinational corporations, such as Amazon and Walmart. Amazon practices unethical policies, such as anti-unionization and working conditions. The primary reason that workers may support labour organizations is working conditions. They may seek better pay and an improved working environment. Amazon has avoided most unionization efforts since its founding nearly three decades ago. Amazon’s anti-unionization policy is unethical and warrants a review of how it can be changed based on existing ethical frameworks.

Background of the Policy

Amazon opposes all efforts by having more than a million employees join a labour union. The company has successfully averted every unionization effort for the past twenty-five years. However, the company lost in a unionization election at Staten Island, which marked a historic victory for the Amazon Labor Union, given the organization’s failed attempts (Milkman, 2022). Until the recent success of the Amazon Labor Union, Amazon has used questionable actions to block attempts at unionization, including the surveillance of employees for potential complaints and organizing efforts. To understand the company’s anti-unionization campaigns, it is necessary to review the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election lost at the Bessemer Amazon warehouse (Logan, 2021). The employees lost because it faced a relentless Amazon campaign that openly discouraged employees from voting in favor of worker unionization.

Why the Policy is Unethical

Anti-unionization is a practice that can be considered unethical using various ethical frameworks. For instance, according to virtue ethics, union-busting is morally wrong. Based on virtue ethics, an action is considered morally right due to the actor’s moral character. Therefore, in Amazon’s instance, it is plausible to ask if the company’s anti-unionization campaign strategies are decent and honest. Considering that the company conducts surveillance on employees to prevent future organizing efforts, the firm’s actions are inconsistent with what a person with integrity would do (Logan, 2021). A decent and honest person or entity would not threaten employees or even fire them if they engaged in organizing efforts.

In addition, using feminist ethics as a framework, Amazon’s anti-unionization campaigns are unethical. Feminist ethics argues that actions are morally right if they prioritize healthy working and social relationships, no harm to others, empathy, and care for others. The critical elements of feminist ethics are experience, responsibility, and relationships. Thus, an ethical corporation should focus on creating harmonious relationships with employees and actively take responsibility for its workers and decisions. Employee monitoring and surveillance create a climate of distrust between Amazon and its workers, resulting in a superficial employer-employee relationship. In addition, employees who support unionization may find themselves denied attractive working opportunities or lose their jobs (Jaffe, 2021). As a result, Amazon does not avoid harm to others since it denies some current and former employees a quality standard of living due to lost wages. Ultimately, Amazon’s anti-unionization strategies create a hostile working environment for workers who support organizing efforts, contrasting what is morally right or ethical according to feminist ethics.

Furthermore, Amazon’s anti-unionization campaigns compel the company to engage in union busting, which is anti-democratic. Thus, the firm’s anti-unionization can be considered unethical using John Rawls’s theory of justice. Rawls’s ethical framework argues that fairness can be accomplished in two ways: fair outcomes and procedures. Fairness is always determined by examining if processes have been created to give everyone an equal chance of opportunities. In addition, the theory of justice considers if there are significant disparities between the losers and winners of a specific action. Interestingly, Amazon ignores equality by engaging in union-busting (Crane et al., 2019). Union busting is undemocratic, indicating it violates the principle of equality and hinders free, informed choices.

Possible Changes to the Policy

Employee Policies and Handbooks

Amazon can utilize employee handbooks as well as policies to display fairness. Collective bargaining agreement. Employees usually unionize because they do not believe the management will offer fair working conditions and competitive benefits. The flexibility to terminate and hire arbitrarily is unethical and often causes unionization. To end arbitrary decision-making that may encourage unionization, employers like Amazon must create employee rulebooks, policies, and handbooks that clearly state employees’ expectations. Amazon should not only have employee handbooks as a formality. Instead, the employee handbook should be followed to eliminate elements of unfairness. As a result, the company can build trust among employees in the long run (Wich, 2022a). In addition, being fair in business operations can show that the company respects its employees, reducing uncertainty and distrust.

Amazon can achieve fairness by tackling the unfair treatment of employees who support unionization efforts. The company can state that workers can want to join labour unions will not face job termination for that sole reason. Such a change in the policy can establish the company’s reputation and commitment to fairness, diversity, and rewards. The company should never attempt to threaten workers supporting labour unions through pay reductions or fewer benefits (Wich, 2022a). Such behaviour can eliminate legal liability for Amazon and create a trustful relationship with employees.

In terms of ethics, fairness through explicit rules and guidelines is supported by the theory of justice and virtue ethics. The theory of justice emphasizes fair outcomes in business ethics. Treating all employees with the same attitude and providing similar opportunities in the workplace regardless of their support for unionization is fair to all parties. Therefore, using employee policies and handbooks to depict workplace fairness is morally right. In addition, the approach is fair because it provides a balance between winners and losers in corporate decision-making. In contrast, virtue ethics argues that an action is morally right if an honest and decent person would do the same when faced with a similar decision (Crane et al., 2019). Thus, being fair to all employees with no regard for their support for unionization is ethical because a person with integrity would make the same decision.

Training Dedicated Communicators for Union Organizing

When employers become aware that employees are considering joining a labour union, they must have a representative that can communicate with employees specifically. An organization must state why unionization is not the best option for the company and its employees. Thus, Amazon must train its human resources department on the complex legal and ethical guidelines to follow while communicating with employees on organizing unionization. The spokespersons should be trained to hold a meeting with all workers and engage in open discussions regarding union organizing. In addition, one-on-one meetings must not be held indoors to avoid the risk that employees claim Amazon made threats or practiced behaviour prohibited by NLRB (Wich, 2022a). The spokespersons should address two factors. First, Amazon must communicate accepting union authorization cards and the drawbacks of unionization. Second, the company must address its positive progress towards employee-oriented business objectives and vision.

Training spokespersons to communicate with employees during union organizing is ethical as it eliminates legal liability for the company by not engaging in unlawful labour practices. Amazon currently uses extreme and aggressive means to deter employees from unionization. However, training the relevant workforce to communicate amicably with union organizing supporters can help build trustful relationships with workers. Ethics of care and discourse ethics supports the approach. The training can help Amazon management to communicate persuasively and legally with its employees. Discourse ethics can be applied in this case since training reaches an acceptable solution for all parties without railroading. The ethics of care is appropriate in the approach because Amazon avoids harming employees through threats and intimidation (Crane et al., 2019). Instead, the two parties can work out a solution that creates a harmonious relationship between them.

Building a Workplace Family Spirit

Front-line supervisors are the key to an organization remaining union-free. There are four significant steps to creating a workplace family spirit. First, Amazon must help workers identify with the company through an orientation program to introduce new employees and explain organizational expectations. Furthermore, Amazon can sponsor events that workers enjoy where management assists in serving and cooking. Second, Amazon can emphasize employee recognition since it creates harmonious working relationships. For instance, when managers tell me I did a great job on a specific project, I become happy, which improves our working relationship. Additionally, leaders should acknowledge individual accomplishments and ideas. Third, the firm must communicate effectively with workers and listen to complaints and suggestions. Better communication can enable Amazon to inform employees about the organization and its anti-unionization policy, address worker concerns, and involve employees in organizational operations (Wich, 2022b). Fourth, Amazon manages the working environment well to offer ideal conditions to avoid the temptation of employees to organize.

Building a family spirit is supported by the ethics of care and the theory of justice. The ethics of care emphasizes the importance of creating good social relationships and empathy. The approach is centred around the improvement of employee welfare and satisfaction. Focusing on employee grievances is the ultimate weapon in reducing unionization. The theory of justice is relevant to the approach because building family spirit creates a fair outcome for all involved parties (Crane et al., 2019). It allows them to work harder, benefiting them and Amazon.

The Best Option

The best option among the three approaches is building a family spirit, as it can satisfy employee expectations effectively and offers a pluralist approach to the problem. Satisfied employees are diligent at work and lead to gratified shareholders and customers (Wich, 2022b). Building a family spirit is supported by virtue ethics, feminist ethics, the theory of justice, and utilitarianism. Virtue ethics supports the approach since the option is an action of an entity with integrity. Feminist ethics is also applicable in the approach as it emphasizes a good working relationship between Amazon and its employees. The theory of justice can be applied to the approach because the outcomes of building a family spirit are fair to Amazon and its workers (Crane et al., 2019). Utilitarianism supports the creation of a family spirit since the option allows Amazon and its employees to reach a solution that brings the greatest pleasure to all parties.

Using employee policies and handbooks to show fairness and training dedicated communicators are ethically flawed since they do not offer a pluralist perspective on solving Amazon’s anti-unionization strategy. A pluralist perspective focuses on a prism or variety of ethical theories to support ethical decision-making. As a result, more holistic and rigorous decisions are made regarding ethical problems. Although the two options can be evaluated using a variety of ethical theories, they do not offer an absolute solution to the ethical problem that is as rigorous and holistic as building a family spirit. Practically, the two options do not offer a complete solution that addresses the origins of all the factors that lead to unionization. For instance, setting and following clear rules in employee handbooks only solves one problem that leads to employee dissatisfaction. Thus, the option does not address other factors that compel employees to join unions. In addition, training dedicated communicators to help during union organizing addresses only part of the problem by communicating Amazon’s position on unionization without threats or surveillance (Crane et al., 2019). Therefore, since building a workplace family spirit focuses on the root cause of unionization, it can eliminate the ethical problem effectively.

Conclusion

In conclusion, Amazon’s anti-unionization policy is morally wrong that must be remedied based on various ethical frameworks. The company has adopted the policy since it was started. Amazon has successfully thwarted employee unionization attempts until a recent historic win by the Amazon Labor Union in 2022. The policy is unethical due to Amazon’s discouragement of mass unionization efforts, including threats, anti-unionization meetings and messages, and surveillance. Since the policy is morally wrong according to some ethical frameworks, such as virtue ethics, it can be improved using three steps. First, the company can utilize clear employee guidelines to establish fairness. Second, Amazon can train relevant workers to represent them during union organizing. Third, the firm must create a family spirit by focusing on employee satisfaction. Ensuring workers are satisfied increases commitment and reduces the incidence of unionization.

References

Crane, A., Matten, D., Glozer, S., & Spence, L. (2019). Business ethics: Managing citizenship and sustainability in the age of globalization (5th ed.). Oxford University Press.

Jaffe, S. (2021). It’ll take a movement: Organizing at Amazon after Bessemer. New Labor Forum, 30(3), 30-37. Web.

Logan, J. (2021). Crushing unions, by any means necessary: How Amazon’s blistering anti-union campaign won in Bessemer, Alabama. New Labor Forum, 30(3), 38-45. Web.

Milkman, R. (2022). The Amazon Labor Union’s historic breakthrough. Dissent, 69(3), 96-101. Web.

Wich, S. (2022a). 2022—The end of the beginning?Management Report for Nonunion Organizations, 45(1), 3-4. Web.

Wich, S. (2022b). The organizer’s perspective. Management Report for Nonunion Organizations, 45(5), 3-4. Web.

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