Amazon ax-holes
Leak shows bid to stain S.I. leader of virus protest Major crime down as bug ravages city
An internal Amazon memo proposed a smear campaign against the employee leading coronavirus protests over conditions at the retail giant’s Staten Island warehouse, according to a report
The company’s general counsel David Zapolsky, in notes taken at a meeting from a daily update with Amazon CEO Jeff Bezos about COVID-19, discussed a plan to single out fired worker Christian Smalls as “not smart or articulate” — and to raise questions about his behavior.
“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,” wrote Zapolsky in comments leaked website Vice.com.
Zapolsky issued an immediate mea culpa to Vice, but the African-American ex-employee wanted no part of it. to the
“They’re digging their own grave,” Smalls told the Daily News. “It’s borderline racist. These people are disgusting. They should be ashamed of themselves. It’s like a vendetta against me … For what? For doing the right thing?”
The leaked notes also recounted a discussion among Amazon executives about using Smalls to discredit the wider labor movement at the company. Staten Island workers at the JFK8 warehouse began efforts to unionize two years ago.
“Make him the most interesting part of the story, and if possible make him the face of the entire union/ organizing movement,” wrote Zapolsky.
These are lean times for New York City’s bad guys.
The number of serious crimes plunged 20% over the last two and a half weeks of March compared to a year ago after a state of emergency was declared due to the coronavirus outbreak, the NYPD said Thursday.
Overall crime dropped across every borough, in public housing and the transit system between March 12 and March 31 compared to the same period a year ago, the data shows. The number of murders fell from 16 to 12, robberies from 612 to 551. Grand larcenies were down 37% from 2019, 1,334 compared to 2,115 last year.
By contrast, the city’s overall crime rate jumped 28% from March 1 through March 11 compared to the same period a year ago.