Amazon plan to push Calif. interests leaked
Priorities include ‘labor agitation,’ charity work
An internal Amazon memo has provided a stark look at the company’s carefully laid out plans to grow its influence in Southern California through a plethora of efforts that include burnishing its reputation through charity work and pushing back against “labor agitation” from the Teamsters and other groups.
The eight-page document — titled “community engagement plan” for 2024 — provides a rare glimpse into how one of America’s biggest companies executes on its public relations objectives and attempts to curtail reputational harm stemming from criticisms of its business.
It also illustrates how Amazon aims to methodically court local politicians and community groups in order to push its interests in a region where it could be hampered by local moratoriums on warehouse development, and it is facing resistance from environmental and labor activists.
The memo was leaked to the nonprofit labor organization Warehouse Worker Resource Center and posted online this week. The Associated Press independently verified its authenticity.
When reached for comment, Amazon did not dispute the authenticity of the document. But it said in a prepared statement it was proud of its philanthropic efforts.
In the memo, Amazon says its top public-policy priority in Southern California is addressing “labor agitation that uses false narratives and incorrect information to affect public opinion and impact public policy.”
Earlier this year, the Teamsters unionized an Amazon contracted delivery firm in the city of Palmdale and subsequently supported protests around company warehouses after Amazon refused to come to the bargaining table.
Last year, dozens of Amazon workers at a company air hub in San Bernardino, a city about 60 miles east of Los Angeles, walked off the job to demand safety improvements and higher pay.
Those same issues were raised by workers at a company warehouse in New York City where employees voted to unionize with the Amazon Labor Union in 2022. The e-commerce giant has been challenging the union’s win for more than a year in a case that’s still being adjudicated by the National Labor Relations Board.
The Amazon memo also says the Seattle-based company faces “significant reputational challenges” in Southern California, where it’s “perceived to build facilities in predominantly communities of color and poverty, negatively impacting their health.”
In the memo outlining Amazon’s goals for next year, the company says it plans to “earn the trust” of community groups and nonprofits, such as the San Bernardino Valley College Foundation, Children’s Fund, and Feeding America, to push back against state bills “that will continue to threaten the region’s economy, and Amazon’s interests.”
The two bills cited include a state legislation that, if passed, would prohibit companies from building large warehouses within 1,000 feet of private homes, apartments, schools, daycares and other facilities.
The memo also says the company plans to “positively affect” legislative attempts to ban single use plastic by “showcasing Amazon as a leader in sustainability and counter the voices of environmental activists against Amazon.”