North Carolina
Amazon 'anti-union propaganda,' employee surveillance loom over labor vote at North Carolina warehouse
Workers picket in front of an Amazon Logistic Station on December 19, 2024 in Skokie Illinois.
Scott Olson | Getty Images
Italo Medelius-Marsano was a law student at North Carolina Central University in 2022, when he took a job at an Amazon warehouse near the city of Raleigh to earn some extra cash.
The past month has been unlike any other during his three-year tenure at the company. Now, when he shows up for his shift at the shipping dock, Medelius-Marsano says he’s met with flyers and mounted TVs urging him to “vote no,” as well as QR codes on workstations that lead to an anti-union website. During meetings, managers discourage unionization.
The facility in the suburb of Garner, North Carolina, employs roughly 4,700 workers and is the site of Amazon’s latest labor showdown. Workers at the site are voting this week on whether to join Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity (CAUSE), a grassroots union made up of current and former employees.
CAUSE organizers started the group in 2022 in an effort to boost wages and improve working conditions. Voting at the site, known as RDU1, wraps up on Saturday.
Workers at RDU1 and other facilities told CNBC that Amazon is increasingly using digital tools to deter employees from unionizing. That includes messaging through the company’s app and workstation computers. There’s also automated software and handheld package scanners used to track employee performance inside the warehouse, so the company knows when staffers are working or doing something else.
“You cannot get away from the anti-union propaganda or being surveilled, because when you walk into work they have cameras all over the building,” said Medelius-Marsano, who is an organizer with CAUSE. “You can’t get into work without scanning a badge or logging into a machine. That’s how they track you.”
CAUSE representatives have also made their pitch to RDU1 employees. The union has set up a “CAUSE HQ” tent across the street from the warehouse and disbursed leaflets in the facility’s break room.
Amazon, the nation’s second-largest private employer, has long sought to keep unions out of its ranks. The strategy succeeded in the U.S. until 2022, when workers at a Staten Island warehouse voted to join the Amazon Labor Union. Last month, workers at a Whole Foods store in Philadelphia voted to join the United Food and Commercial Workers union.
In December, Amazon delivery and warehouse workers at nine facilities went on strike, organized by the Teamsters, during the height of the holiday shopping season to push the company to the bargaining table. The strike ended on Christmas Eve.
Union elections at other Amazon warehouses in New York have finished in defeat in recent years, while the results of a union drive at an Alabama facility are being contested. Organizers have pointed to Amazon’s near-constant monitoring of employees as both a catalyst and a deterrent of union campaigns.
The NLRB has 343 open or settled unfair labor practice charges filed with the agency against Amazon, its subsidiaries and contracted delivery companies in the U.S., a spokesperson said.
Amazon has argued in legal filings that the NLRB, which issues complaints against companies or unions determined to have violated labor law, is unconstitutional. Elon Musk’s SpaceX, Starbucks and Trader Joe’s have also made similar claims that challenge the agency’s authority.
Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards said the company’s employees can choose whether or not to join a union.
“We believe that both decisions should be equally protected which is why we talk openly, candidly and respectfully about these topics, actively sharing facts with employees so they can use that information to make an informed decision,” Hards said in a statement.
Hards said the company doesn’t retaliate against employees for union activities, and called claims that its employee monitoring discourages them from unionizing “odd.”
“The site is operating, so employees are still expected to perform their usual work,” Hards said in a statement. “Further, the camera technology in our facilities isn’t to surveil employees — it’s to help guide the flow of goods through the facilities and ensure security and safety of both employees and inventory.”
Orin Starn, a CAUSE organizer who was fired by Amazon early last year for violating the company’s drug and alcohol policy, called Amazon’s employee tracking “algorithmic management of labor.” Starn is an anthropology professor at Duke University who began working undercover at RDU1 in 2023 to conduct research for a book on Amazon.
“Where 100 years ago in a factory you would’ve had a supervisor come around to tell you if you’re slacking off, now in a modern warehouse like Amazon, you’re tracked digitally through a scanner,” Starn said.
‘Just the algorithm’
John Logan, a professor and director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University, told CNBC in an email that Amazon has “perfected the weaponization” of technology, workplace surveillance and algorithmic management during anti-union campaigns “more than any other company.”
While Amazon may be more sophisticated than others, “the use of data analytics is becoming far more common in anti-union campaigns across the country,” Logan said. He added that it’s “extremely common” for companies to try to improve working conditions or sweeten employee perks during a union drive.
Other academics are paying equally close attention to the issue. In a research paper published last week, Northwestern University PhD candidate Teke Wiggin explored Amazon’s use of algorithms and digital devices at the company’s BHM1 warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama.
“The black box and lack of accountability that comes with algorithmic management makes it harder for a worker or activist to decide if they’re being retaliated against,” Wiggin said in an interview. “Maybe their schedule changes a little bit, work feels harder than it used to, the employer can say that has nothing to do with us, that’s just the algorithm. But we have no idea if the algorithm has changed.”
People protest in support of the unionizing efforts of the Alabama Amazon workers, in Los Angeles, California, March 22, 2021.
Lucy Nicholson | Reuters
Some Amazon employees see the situation differently. Storm Smith works at RDU1 as a process assistant, which involves monitoring worker productivity and safety. Amazon referred Smith to CNBC in the course of reporting this story.
Amazon’s workplace controls, like rate and time off task, are “part of the job,” Smith said. Staffers are “always welcome” to ask her what their rate is, she added.
“For my people, if I see your rate is not where it’s supposed to be, I’ll come up to you and say, ‘Hey, this is your rate, are you feeling alright? Is there anything I could get you to get your rate up? Like a snack, a drink, whatever,” Smith said.
Wiggin interviewed 42 BHM1 employees following the first election in 2021, and reviewed NLRB records of hearings. The facility employed more than 5,800 workers at the time of the union drive.
The NLRB last November ordered a third union vote to be held at BHM1 after finding Amazon improperly interfered in two previous elections. The company has denied wrongdoing.
Amazon staffers told Wiggin that during the union campaign, the company tweaked some performance expectations to “improve working conditions” and dissuade them from unionizing. One employee said these changes were partly why he voted against the union, according to the study.
Workers at an Amazon warehouse outside St. Louis, Missouri, filed an NLRB complaint in May. The employees accused Amazon of using “intrusive algorithms” that track when they’re working to discourage them from organizing, The Guardian reported. The employees withdrew their complaint on Tuesday.
Hards said Amazon doesn’t require employees to meet specific productivity speeds or targets.
Lawmakers zeroed in on how surveillance can impact organizing efforts in recent years. In 2022, the former NLRB general counsel issued a memo calling for the group to address corporate use of “omnipresent surveillance and other algorithmic-management tools” to disrupt organizing efforts. The following year, the Biden Administration put out a request for information on automated worker surveillance and management, noting that the systems can pose risks to employees, including “their rights to form or join a labor union.”
However, the Trump administration is attempting to purge the NLRB, with the president firing the chair of the organization on his first day in office last month. Trump has put Musk, a notorious opponent of unions, in charge of the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, with the goal of cutting government costs and slashing regulations.
Fired by an app
One of the most direct ways Amazon is able to disseminate anti-union messages is through the AtoZ app, which is an essential tool in their daily work.
The app is used by warehouse workers to access pay stubs and tax forms, request schedule changes or vacation time, post on the “Voice of the Associate” message board, and communicate with human resources.
Jennifer Bates, a prominent union organizer at BHM1, learned Amazon fired her through AtoZ in 2023. She was later reinstated by Amazon “after a full review of her case,” and provided backpay, Hards said.
Jennifer Bates, an Amazon.com, Inc. fulfillment center employee, stands for a portrait at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) office in Birmingham, Alabama on March 26, 2021.
Patrick T. Fallon | AFP | Getty Images
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which sought to represent BHM1 workers, has said the AtoZ app can access a user’s GPS, photos, camera, microphone and WiFi-connection information. The union also claims that “Amazon can sell the data collected to any third party companies and that data cannot be deleted.” The technology raises several concerns, including that it may suppress “the right to organize,” RWDSU said.
Hards said the RWDSU’s claims are inaccurate and denied that the company sells any data affiliated with AtoZ use. She said AtoZ users must give the app permission to access things like their GPS location.
At the Garner facility, the AtoZ app has been plastered with “anti-union propaganda” since the RDU1 election was announced last month, Medelius-Marsano said.
One AtoZ message suggested employees’ benefits could be at risk if they voted in a union, while another described CAUSE as an “outside party” that’s “claiming to be a union.”
RDU1 site leader Kristen Tettemer said in another message that a group like CAUSE “can get in the way of how we work together,” and that “once in, a union is very difficult to remove.” Smith said Amazon’s response to the union drive has been centered around “putting out the facts and telling you to do your research.”
Medelius-Marsano said it all amounts to an environment of intimidation.
“There’s no doubt about it,” Medelius-Marsano said. “If we lose, fear is going to be the reason.”
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North Carolina is beginning to plan for floods that have not happened yet.
State officials this year advanced the next phase of the state’s Flood Resiliency Blueprint, incorporating updated modeling that factors in heavier rainfall, future development and sea-level rise — a shift away from relying solely on historic data and FEMA’s regulatory maps.
“We can make decisions and plan for that future, not just the exposure to flooding that we see now,” said Stuart Brown, who manages the Flood Resiliency Blueprint for the North Carolina Department of Environmental Quality.
For a state that has endured record-breaking rainfall from Hurricane Helene in the mountains to Tropical Storm Chantal in the Triangle, the move reflects a growing recognition: past standards no longer capture present risk.
Beyond outdated flood lines
Multiple North Carolina studies have found that between 43% and 60% of flood damage occurs outside FEMA’s regulatory flood zones. Those maps shape insurance requirements and local zoning decisions, yet they are largely based on historical rainfall data.
“A lot of the regulatory floodplains really haven’t kept up with what we know is happening,” said Elizabeth Losos, executive in residence at Duke University’s Nicholas Institute for Energy, Environment and Sustainability.
Climate data show rainfall intensity in the Triangle has increased by about 21% since 1970. Warmer air holds more moisture, fueling heavier downpours that overwhelm drainage systems designed for a different climate.
“Fixing what we know is flooding right now is good,” Losos said. “It’s better than nothing, but it’s definitely not enough.”
Brown said the blueprint incorporates projections for future precipitation and development — a critical factor in one of the fastest-growing states in the country.
“Development can be an issue for flooding in two categories,” Brown said. “One is when that development is occurring in areas that are flood prone. The other is when that development is done in ways that don’t account for the additional stormwater that will be produced.”
Thousands of projects, limited dollars
Unlike states that rely on massive levee systems, North Carolina’s flood risk is scattered across river basins, coastal plains and rapidly developing suburbs. Brown said resilience here will require thousands of localized projects.
“We were asked by the General Assembly to provide specific, actionable projects,” Brown said. “We want to know what specific geography and what specific action is proposed.”
That planning push comes as federal support for flood research and mitigation is shrinking.
The Trump administration has proposed a roughly 30% cut to NOAA’s 2026 budget, targeting climate research and ocean services that provide the rainfall and coastal data states use to model flood risk. At FEMA, the administration has cut staff by more than 6%, reduced funding for local hazard mitigation projects and added new approval layers for grants.
For North Carolina, that means fewer dollars for buyouts, drainage upgrades and flood control projects — and less federal data to guide long-term planning — just as the state is trying to build a more forward-looking flood strategy.
Brown said North Carolina is trying to “leverage the limited dollars that we have in the state with any federal sources that are available” and embed resilience into routine investments in transportation, water treatment and conservation.
“Funding is always going to be an issue,” Brown said.
The policy gap
Researchers have long argued that resilience investments save money. Studies show every $1 spent on mitigation can yield $4 to $13 in avoided losses.
“The problem is that the policies don’t align the people who pay the cost with the people who get the benefit,” Losos said.
A developer may not directly benefit from downstream flood reduction. A town may shoulder upfront infrastructure costs while insurers, neighboring communities or future taxpayers capture part of the savings.
Without policy changes that align costs and benefits, resilience can remain politically and financially difficult.
“In the most severe cases, there are some communities that will have to eventually abandon if they don’t begin to think about how they can adapt to these conditions,” Losos said.
North Carolina now has updated tools to better measure future flood risk. Whether the state can secure stable federal support — and align its own policies with the risks ahead — will determine how effectively communities prepare for the next storm rather than recover from the last one.
North Carolina
North Carolina primary could mean Roy Cooper vs Michael Whatley in pivotal fall Senate race
RALEIGH, N.C. — North Carolina’s primary will be the official starting gun for one of the country’s most closely watched U.S. Senate campaigns, likely pitting former Democratic Gov. Roy Cooper against former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Whatley.
Each candidate is the most high-profile contender for their party’s nomination, which should be sealed on Tuesday. Scores of other races also are on the ballot, including for the U.S. House, state legislature and judicial seats.
North Carolina, a traditional battleground where Democrats have been able to hold the governor’s seat even as voters helped send President Donald Trump to the White House, is one of three states kicking off this year’s midterm elections, along with Texas and Arkansas. Tuesday’s slate of primaries comes against the backdrop of the U.S. and Israel attack on Iran.
The war, which began over the weekend, has killed at least six U.S. service members, spiraled into a regional confrontation as Iran retaliated and sent oil and natural gas prices soaring. The president, who campaigned on an isolationist “America First” agenda and went to war without authorization from Congress, faces mounting questions over its rationale and an exit strategy.
North Carolina’s election this year could be crucial for determining which party controls the U.S. Senate, where Republicans currently have the majority. The seat is open because Sen. Thom Tillis decided to retire after clashing with President Donald Trump. Political experts say a typhoon of outside money could make the race the most expensive Senate campaigns in U.S. history, perhaps reaching $1 billion.
Many Democrats see Cooper, who served two terms as governor and has been successful in state politics for decades, as the party’s best shot at victory. Democrats need to pick up four seats to take back control of the Senate, and they view the most likely path as winning in North Carolina, Maine, Alaska and Ohio.
Cooper faces five lesser-known rivals on Tuesday. Other Republicans on the Senate ballot include Navy officer Don Brown and Michele Morrow, who was the party’s nominee for state schools chief in 2024.
Republican U.S. Senate candidate Michael Whatley, arrives to an early voting site to cast his vote on Thursday, Feb. 12, 2026, in Gastonia, N.C. Credit: AP/Erik Verduzco
Cooper formally entered the race weeks after Tillis announced last summer he wouldn’t seek a third term, as did Whatley, who was buoyed by Trump’s backing when the president’s daughter-in-law Lara Trump declined to enter. The two candidates have been campaigning for months against each other with little focus on intraparty opposition.
Whatley promises to keep pushing Trump’s agenda if elected, one that he says has cut taxes and spending and restored U.S. military might.
“It’s very important for us to have a conservative champion and for President Trump to have an ally in the Senate,” he said while voting early in Gastonia. “We’re going to be fighting for every family and every community in North Carolina.”
Some primary voters say Congress needs Democratic control as a counterweight to Trump and what they consider disastrous policies.
President Donald Trump listens as Michael Whatley speaks to soldiers and their families at Fort Bragg, N.C., Friday, Feb. 13, 2026. Credit: AP/Matt Rourke
“I think we need to send a message. And I think the more Democrats that show up, and the more independents that show up for this midterm election, and the more seats we can take from the Republicans, the more he might get the message,” said Lisa Frucht, 67, said as she cast a ballot for Cooper at an early voting site north of Raleigh.
Republican voter Gary Grimes, who chose Whatley, said Democratic control of Congress could lead to more impeachment efforts against Trump that ultimately won’t succeed.
“It’ll be a repeat of what they did to Trump in the first term,” said Grimes, 71, “And they can’t see anything except getting Trump, at any cost.”
A Democrat hasn’t won a Senate race in North Carolina since 2008. Meanwhile, Cooper, 68, hasn’t lost a North Carolina election going back to first running for the state House in the mid-1980s, leading to 16 years as attorney general and eight as governor through 2024.
Whatley, 57, previously worked in President George W. Bush’s administration, for then-North Carolina Sen. Elizabeth Dole and as an energy lobbyist.
Cooper and his allies have centered campaign attacks on Whatley’s allegiance to the president and Trump policies, saying he backs higher tariffs and Medicaid spending reductions and must take blame for slow Hurricane Helene recovery aid.
Voting recently in Raleigh, Cooper said he wants to “make sure that I’m a strong, independent senator who can work with this president when I can, stand up to him when I need to and recognize that people are struggling right now.”
Whatley, Trump and other Republicans have blistered Cooper on criminal justice matters, accusing him of promoting soft-on-crime policies while governor. They’ve repeatedly highlighted last August’s fatal stabbing of Ukrainian refugee Iryna Zarutska on a Charlotte light-rail train. Trump identified Zarutska’s mother in attendance at last week’s State of the Union address.
Cooper told reporters recently that his career is about “prosecuting violent criminals and keeping thousands of them behind bars.”
Tuesday’s election also includes primary elections in all but one of North Carolina’s U.S. House districts. They include a five-candidate GOP primary in the northeastern 1st Congressional District, which is currently represented by Democratic Rep. Don Davis, who faced no primary opposition.
The Republican-controlled General Assembly created last fall a more right-leaning 1st District to join Trump’s multistate redistricting campaign ahead of the 2026 elections to retain the House. Davis won in 2024 by less than 2 percentage points.
ASHEVILLE, N.C. (WLOS) — Drivers in Asheville are paying slightly more at the pump this week, even as prices remain below where they were a year ago. Amid a rapidly escalating war in the Middle East, however, fuel prices are expected to rise even further.
Average gasoline prices in Asheville have risen 2.1 cents per gallon in the last week and are averaging $2.70 per gallon on Monday, March 2, according to GasBuddy’s survey of 259 stations in Asheville. Prices in Asheville are 2.3 cents per gallon higher than a month ago and stand 10 cents per gallon lower than a year ago, per the GasBuddy report.
Neighboring areas also saw increases, according to new data. Spartanburg is averaging $2.66 per gallon, up 9.3 cents per gallon from last week’s $2.57 per gallon. Greenville is averaging $2.65 per gallon, up 8.9 cents per gallon from last week’s $2.57 per gallon.
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According to GasBuddy, gasoline prices nationwide have risen for four straight weeks.
Across the country, the national average price of gasoline has risen 5.6 cents per gallon in the last week to $2.94 per gallon on Monday. The national average is up 7.8 cents per gallon from a month ago and is 10.1 cents per gallon lower than a year ago, according to GasBuddy data.
Diesel prices also moved higher. The national average price of diesel increased 5.4 cents compared to a week ago and stands at $3.740 per gallon.
“Looking ahead, markets will now begin reacting to this weekend’s U.S.–Iran attacks, which have elevated geopolitical risk premiums even in the absence of immediate supply disruption,” Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, said via a press release. “In the week ahead, gasoline prices are likely to face heightened upward pressure as seasonal trends continue and markets navigate this evolving geopolitical landscape, with the national average poised to reach the $3-per-gallon mark for the first time this year.”
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In Asheville, GasBuddy price reports showed the cheapest station was priced at $2.47 per gallon. Meanwhile, the most expensive station was priced at $3.09 per gallon, a difference of 62.0 cents per gallon.
GasBuddy also provided a look at gas prices in Asheville on March 2 in the past five years:
- March 2, 2025: $2.80/g (U.S. Average: $3.04/g)
- March 2, 2024: $3.08/g (U.S. Average: $3.34/g)
- March 2, 2023: $3.14/g (U.S. Average: $3.35/g)
- March 2, 2022: $3.56/g (U.S. Average: $3.69/g)
- March 2, 2021: $2.56/g (U.S. Average: $2.74/g)
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