Amazon illegally fired two employees after they publicly criticized the company for its lack of action on climate change and its failure to protect warehouse workers from the novel coronavirus, the National Labor Relations Board determined. Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa were highly visible members of the small group of Amazon employees who in 2018 called for Amazon to do more to address climate change, and eventually got 8,700 colleagues to sign on to their efforts. They were fired last April, not long after their group of about 400 employees spoke out, in intentional and public violation of Amazon’s tightened down internal policies clamping down on employee criticism.

Cunningham and Costa allege they were fired in retaliation for their activism. If they and Amazon do not settle the case, the NLRB will accuse Amazon of unfair labor practices and the case will go before an administrative law judge. Also this week, the NLRB will be counting votes to see if Amazon’s 6,000 Alabama warehouse employees will unionize, a potentially major change for the company’s notoriously exploitative labor practices. (NLRB Determination: New York Times $, AP, Reuters; Amazon policy change: Earther; Union vote: New York Times $, AL.com)