‘He’s not smart’: Leaked memo reveals Amazon’s plans to smear fired warehouse worker

Amazon bigs discussed plans to smear the Staten Island warehouse worker they canned after he organized a protest of the company’s coronavirus response, according to a report on Thursday.

Company executives explored a PR strategy for dealing with public backlash following the firing of Chris Smalls, who had led a walkout at the Bloomfield facility this week to demand greater protection amid the coronavirus outbreak, Vice News reported.

“He’s not smart, or articulate,” Amazon general counsel David Zapolsky said in notes from an internal meeting of Amazon leadership obtained by the outlet.

“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,” Zapolsky wrote.

Smalls, 31, told The Post he believes the company tried to silence him after he and other employees on Monday walked off the job to demand that their warehouse be cleaned and sanitized after a staffer there tested positive for COVID-19.

They also urged Amazon to be more transparent about how many staffers at the facility had been infected and asked for paid time off for folks who feel sick or need to self-quarantine.s

The spread of the coronavirus disease (COVID-19) in New YorkAmazon workers demonstrate at their warehouseAmazon workers demonstrate at their warehouseUS-HEALTH-VIRUS-STRIKEUS-HEALTH-VIRUS-STRIKEUS-HEALTH-VIRUS-STRIKEUS-HEALTH-VIRUS-STRIKE

View Slideshow

Source: Read Full Article