Technologies

Redo the Amazon union election in Alabama, NLRB official recommends

The findings aren’t final, and Amazon plans to appeal.

The results of a historic union election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama should be set aside, a hearing officer from the National Labor Board Relations said in recommendations. The findings address complaints from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union alleging the company misled and threatened workers in violation of federal labor law. The union sought to represent thousands of workers at the Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, but lost by a ratio of more than 2-to-1 in April.

Both parties have the opportunity to file exceptions to the findings before the regional director makes a decision. The decision can then be appealed to the national labor board, where a panel of commissioners could rule on the case.

The hearing officer said the RWDSU’s objections should be sustained in part and recommended a second election be held. Specifically, Amazon’s move to have the US Postal Service install a generic mailbox outside the Alabama fulfillment center usurped the NLRB’s role in administering the election and interfered with the conditions necessary for a fair election, according to the hearing officer’s report, which the NLRB released Tuesday.

«Notwithstanding the union’s substantial margin of defeat, the employer’s unilateral decision to create, for all intents and purposes, an onsite collection box for NLRB ballots destroyed the laboratory conditions and justifies a second election,» said hearing officer Kerstin Meyers in her recommendations.

Amazon said it plans to appeal.

«Our employees had a chance to be heard during a noisy time when all types of voices were weighing into the national debate and at the end of the day, they voted overwhelmingly in favor of a direct connection with their managers and the company,» an Amazon spokesperson said in a statement. «Their voice should be heard above all else and we plan to appeal to ensure that happens.»

«The question of whether or not to have a union is supposed to be the workers’ decision and not the employer’s,» said Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU. «Amazon’s behavior throughout the election process was despicable.»

The recommendation comes as Amazon faces increasing scrutiny for its treatment of workers. The NLRB has also reportedly considered investigating the company for allegedly firing and disciplining workers who organize protests and walkouts, activities that are protected under federal labor law.

Amazon has also been sued by a group of corporate and logistics employees who allege the company engaged in discrimination and harassment based on race and gender. Warehouse workers have repeatedly sued to get wages for time they were required to wait in lines or spent walking to distant break rooms. So far, Amazon has prevailed in court against federal wage claims.

Working conditions for drivers at subcontracted «delivery service partners» have also raised concerns, including drivers peeing into bottles, struggling to park and facing a discipline system they say doesn’t take their side of the story into account.

The RWDSU complained that Amazon broke federal labor law in the lead-up to the Alabama election, which had the potential to create the e-commerce giant’s first unionized workforce in the US. Lawyers for the union said Amazon unlawfully threatened to lay people off and close the warehouse.

The union took particular issue with the mailbox Amazon had the USPS install on its premises outside the warehouse, saying the company turned it into an ad hoc voting booth with a tent surrounding it on three sides and banners urging workers to vote. Meyers, the NLRB official, said the booth was directly underneath a surveillance camera operated by Amazon. The mailbox was a metal cabinet with several slots rather than a standard blue box with a USPS logo on it. The union argued it gave the impression that Amazon was involved in collecting ballots, which could have affected the vote.

During the hearing over the union’s complaints overseen by Meyers, a worker testified that he’d seen Amazon workers access the mailbox. Amazon countered that it had access only to compartments that contained incoming mail addressed to the company. Additionally, Meyers determined that the worker’s testimony was not credible for numerous reasons, including that he couldn’t have seen anyone accessing the mailbox from where he said he was watching.

Technologies

Google Making AI-Powered Glasses With Warby Parker, Gentle Monster

Google revealed its first two partnerships with eyeglass brands, with more to come.

The tech world has rarely been called stylish. But at Google’s annual I/O developers conference on Tuesday, the company took one step into the fashion world — kind of. The company revealed that the first eyeglass brands to carry Android XR AI-powered glasses will be Warby Parker and Gentle Monster, with more brand partners to be revealed in the future. Android XR is Google’s upcoming platform for VR, AR and AI on glasses and headsets.

Yes, there was a Superman joke as the company joked that unlike Clark Kent, who hid his superpowers behind nerdy glasses, the Android XR glasses will give you superpowers. That remains to be seen, although NBA star Giannis Antetokounmpo did show up at Google I/O wearing the XR glasses.

Warby Parker, founded in 2010, was originally an online eyeglass retailer that gained fame for its home try-on program, where customers could order five frames sent to their home to try on and then return. It also allowed customers to upload photos to see how they would look wearing different frames.

South Korean eyeglass brand Gentle Monster, founded in 2011, is known for its luxury eyeglasses and sunglasses. The company’s celebrity customers include Beyoncé, Rihanna, Kendrick Lamar and Billie Eilish.

Technologies

Tariffs Explained: I Have Everything You Need to Know as Walmart, Subaru Hike Prices

Technologies

Google I/O Announcements: The Latest AI Upgrades Coming to Gemini, XR and More

From its new Project Aura XR glasses to Chrome’s wants-to-be-more-helpful AI mode, Gemini Live and new Flow generative video tool, Google puts AI everywhere.

As you’d expect, this year’s Google I/O developer’s conference focused almost exclusively on AI — where the company’s Gemini AI platform stands, where it’s going and how much it’s going to cost you now for its new AI Ultra subscription plan (spoiler: $250 per month). Meanwhile, a new Flow app expands the company’s video-generation toolset, and its Android XR glasses make their debut.

Plus, all AI usage and performance numbers are up! (Given that a new 42.5-exaflop Ironwood Tensor processing unit is coming to Google Cloud later this year, they’ll continue to rise.)

Google’s Project Aura, a developer kit for Android XR that includes new AR glasses from Xreal, is the company’s next step in the company’s roadmap toward glasses-based, AI-driven extended reality. CNET’s Scott Stein goes in-depth in an exclusive interview with Shahram Izadi, Google’s VP and GM for Android XR about that future. And headset-based Project Moohan, developed in conjunction with Samsung, is now available, and Google’s working with Samsung to extend beyond headsets.

For a play-by-play of the event, you can read the archive of our live blog.

Google already held a separate event for Android, where it launched Android 16, debuting its new Material 3 Expressive interface, updates to security and an update on Gemini integration and features.

A lot of the whizzy new AI features are only available via one of its subscription levels. AI Pro is just a rebranding of Google’s $20-per-month Gemini Advanced plan (adding some new features), but Google AI Ultra is a pricier new option — $250 per month, with half off the first three months for the moment — that provides access to the latest, spiffiest and least usage-limited of all its tools and models, as well as a prototype for managing AI agents and the 30 terabytes of storage you’re going to need to store it all. They’re both available today.

Google also wants to make your automation sound smarter with Personalized Smart Replies, which makes your generated answers sound more like you, as well as plowing through pieces of information on your device to provide relevant information. It’ll be in Gmail this summer for subscribers. Eventually, it’ll be everywhere.

Also, it includes lots of better models, better coding tools and other details on developer-friendly things you expect from a developer conference. The announcement included its conversational Gemini Live, formerly part of Project Astra, its interactive, agentic, voice AI, kitchen sink AI app. (As Managing Editor Patrick Holland says, «Astra is a rehearsal of features that, when they’re ready for the spotlight, get added to Gemini Live.») And for researchers, NotebookLM incorporates Gemini Live to improve its… everything.

It’s available now in the US.

Chrome AI Mode

People (that is, those over 18) who pony up for the subscriptions, plus users on the Chrome Beta, Dev and Canary tracks, will be able to try out the company’s expanded Gemini integration with Chrome — summary, research and agentic chat based on the contents of your screen, somewhat like Gemini Live does for phones (which, by the way, is available for free on Android and iOS as of today). But the Chrome version is more suited to the type of things you do at a computer rather than a phone. (Microsoft already does this with Copilot in its own Edge browser.)

Eventually, Google plans for Gemini in Chrome to be capable of synthesizing using multiple tabs and voice navigation.

The company is also expanding how you can interact with its AI Overviews in Google Search as part of AI Mode, with interactions with AI Overviews and more agentic shopping help. It’s a new tab with search, or on the search bar, and it’s available now. It includes deeper searches, Personal Context — which uses all the information it knows about you, and that’s a lot — to make suggestions and customize replies.

The company detailed its new AI Mode for shopping, which has an improved conversational shopping experience, a checkout that monitors for the best pricing, and an updated «try on» interface that lets you upload a photo of yourself rather than modeling it on a generic body.

Google plans to launch it soon, though the updated «try on» feature is now available in the US via Search Labs.

Google Beam

Formerly known as Project Starline, Google Beam is the updated version of the company’s 3D videoconferencing, now with AI. It uses a six-camera array to capture all angles of you, which the AI then stitches together, uses head tracking to follow your movements, and sends at up to 60 frames per second.

The platform uses a light field display that doesn’t require wearing any special equipment, but that technology also tends to be sensitive to off-angle viewing. HP is an old hand in the large-scale scanning biz, including 3D scanning, so the partnership with Google isn’t a big surprise.

Flow and other generative creative tools

Google Flow is a new tool that builds on Imagen 4 and Veo 3 to perform tasks like creating AI video clips and stitching them into longer sequences, or extending them, with a single prompt while keeping them consistent from scene to scene. It also provides editing tools like camera controls. It’s available as part of Gemini AI Ultra.

Imagen 4 image generation is more detailed, with improved tonality and better text and typography. And it’s faster. Meanwhile, Veo 3, also available today, has a better understanding of physics and native audio generation — sound effects, background sounds and dialogue.

Of course, all this is available under the AI Pro plan. Google’s Synth ID gen AI detection tool is also available today.