On Cyber Monday AG Candidate Zephyr Teachout Pushes for Workers Rights @ Amazon Store

+ Activist and former Amazon worker Christian Smalls endorses Teachout for AG

NEW YORK, NY (11/29/2021) (readMedia)-- On the biggest e-commerce day in the U.S., activist and former Amazon employee Christian Smalls endorsed Zephyr Teachout for Attorney General, highlighting the devastating way monopoly power is destroying workers' rights and what Teachout will do about it as Attorney General. New York Attorney General Tish James sued Amazon in February of this year for workplace safety violations related to COVID and for retaliating against Smalls by firing him for protesting unsafe working conditions. The litigation is ongoing.

Teachout drew attention to unsafe working conditions at Amazon, where workers experience serious injuries in warehouses at a rate 80 percent higher than the rest of the industry, as well as the broader impact of monopoly power on wages and prices. Regardless, Amazon profits continue to climb, with a 60 percent increase in Cyber Monday sales last year, amounting to more than $4.8 billion in sales between Black Friday & Cyber Monday alone. That's nearly a fourth of total profits last year, which nearly doubled at $21 billion.

Teachout is a widely regarded expert on antitrust law and the author of Break 'Em Up: Recovering Our Freedom from Big Ag, Big Tech, and Big Money. In 2020, she testified before Congress to the House Subcommittee on Antitrust, Commercial and Administrative Law as part of the Judiciary Committee's investigation into competition in digital markets. She has been deeply involved in federal and state efforts to draft new and strengthen existing antitrust laws.

"Amazon workers are bravely exercising their rights and fighting back against the richest man in the world, and that's why I'm so proud to have the support of Christian Smalls. Consolidated corporate power is driving the tremendous wealth inequality in this country leaving workers in the dust. As Attorney General, I'll use the power of the office to break up monopoly giants and go after them for workplace safety violations, wage theft, and anti-competitive practises that hurt consumers and small businesses alike. I believe in a democratic economy and we have to be aggressive," said Zephyr Teachout.

"Zephyr Teachout is a champion for workers against corporate abuse. People of color and low-income workers will only continue to get hurt by the abuses of corporate consolidation. Zephyr is someone who will always put people before power, and that's why I'm proud to endorse her for Attorney General," said Christian Smalls, activist and former Amazon employee.

Teachout vowed to:

  • Investigate Amazon for pandemic price gouging
  • Continue AG James' litigation for worker safety violations
  • Protect workers' right to organize by supporting the PRO Act
  • Investigate Amazon for antitrust violations by engaging in anti-competitive price fixing against third party vendors on its site, like AG Racine.
  • Investigate Amazon for wage theft and punish it heavily so it is no longer just the cost of doing business
  • Advocate for New York lawmakers to introduce a version of a California bill to eliminate dangerous productivity quotas

Teachout also drew attention to the way Amazon's obsession with productivity is not only leading directly to workplace injuries, but to "surveillance wages," a term she coined. Surveillance wages refers to the surveillance efforts and gamification employers use to determine wages for each individual worker -- a practice that's becoming standard in the gig economy and beyond. Instead of wages and benefits being determined by a task or set of responsibility, what a surveilled worker makes is driven by private data gathered by her employer about her personality traits and data about her behavior. Individualized wages undermines the sense of solidarity relied upon for collective bargaining and union building.

Amazon warehouse workers are subject to a combination of gamification and surveillance at work, designed to keep wages as low as legally permissible. Amazon started using video games in five warehouses from suburban Seattle to near Manchester in Britain, after an initial experiment in a single warehouse in late 2016. The games have graphics that mimic Nintendo, and success at these games can lead to changes in wages. In the last 10 years, Amazon has invested more than $100 billion in workplace surveillance tech - which includes the costs of acquisitions of firms that develop such tech - giving them outsized influence in the development of such technology.

Teachout has made trust-busting a hallmark of her campaign.

Teachout launched her bid for Attorney General on November 15, 2021 with the endorsement of 30 lawmakers and leaders from across the state.

Endorsements (more to come):

Minnesota Attorney General Keith Ellison

Environmental activist Bill McKibben

Harvard Law Professor Lawrence Lessig

Ulster County Executive Pat Ryan

Assembly Member Ron Kim

Assembly Member Emily Gallagher

Assembly Member Anna Kelles

Assembly Member Phil Steck

Kingston Mayor Steve Noble

New Paltz Mayor Tim Rogers

Ithaca Mayor Svante Myrick

Hudson Mayor Kamal Johnson

Hudson Common Council Member Tiffany Garriga

UC Young Dems Michael Tierney

UC Leg Abe Uchetelle

UC Leg Eve Walter

Ulster County Dems Vice Chair & NYS Committee Member Jeff Collins

NYS Dem Committee Member Bill Barr

NYS Dem Committee Member Nejla Liias

Woodstock Councilmember Bennett Radcliffe

New Paltz Village Trustee Bill Murray

New Paltz Town Supervisor Neil Bettez

New Paltz Deputy Supervisor Dan Torres

Albany County Legislator Merton Simpson

Rochester City Council Member Mary Lupien

61st Assembly District Leader Jasi Robinson

Public Defender and Candidate for State Senate District 26 Alana Sivin

National Director, Dream Corps JUSTICE Janos Marton

Zenaida Mendez, former President of NOW-NYS

Johana Garcia, Community Leader

Justin Krebs, Community Leader

Brandon West, Community Leader

Marissa Hoechstetter, Survivor-Advocate

Leah Hebert, Workers Rights Advocate

About Zephyr Teachout

Zephyr Teachout is a nationally recognized constitutional law expert, anti-corruption activist, and the leading voice against big corporate monopolies threatening democracy, equity, and human dignity. Growing up in a small, rural community she learned respect for the land and people she disagreed with, but to never back down from a hard fight. A Professor at Fordham Law, she lives with her husband Nick, a public school science teacher and their 3 year old son in Manhattan where her 25 year old step-daughter visits them. Learn more on her website, available here.