Amazon fired a bunch of Staten Island managers after they lost a union election

It doesn't take a genius to figure out why.

Last week Amazon fired a half-dozen or so managers connected to the Staten Island warehouse that unionized in April. I asked Amazon why they did that. Here’s their reply:

Part of our culture at Amazon is to continually improve, and we believe it’s important to take time to review whether or not we’re doing the best we could be for our team. Over the last several weeks, we’ve spent time evaluating aspects of the operations and leadership at JFK8 and, as a result, have made some management changes.

I replied:

Were these firings intended to send a message to other Amazon managers that if they lose a union election they will lose their jobs?

No reply. I interpret Amazon’s silence to mean, “Do you need us to draw you a diagram?”

Is it illegal to fire managers for losing a union election? Conceivably, but it would be a hard case to win, especially in this circumstance. For details, read my latest New Republic column, which begins with a reference to the scene in Robert Altman’s 1973 masterpiece The Long Goodbye (see above) in which a mobster played by Mark Rydell assaults his own girlfriend just to make a point to Philip Marlowe (Elliot Gould). The analogy isn’t perfect, but it’s one of the more harrowing depictions of pure evil in the history of movies.

Anyway, read my piece. Then, if you’ve never seen The Long Goodbye, watch it. It’s Altman’s greatest film, I think, or possibly his second-greatest after California Split. Which is saying a lot because he made a lot of great films, and also a great TV series, Tanner ‘88.