In a statement, former Amazon employees Emily Cunningham and Maren Costa said the company has agreed to pay them back wages and must also post a notice to all tech and warehouse workers nationwide stating that Amazon cannot terminate employees for organizing and exercising their rights. The pair described the settlement as a victory for workers' rights. They claim they were fired last year for advocating for environmental issues and worker concerns. Amazon, on the other hand, maintains that the employees violated internal policies. Amazon spokesperson Jose Negrete stated that a mutual agreement has been reached to resolve the legal issues in the case. The settlement comes at a critical time for Amazon, as the company aims to hire a large number of corporate, tech, and warehouse workers in the United States. Cunningham and Costa, who were part of a group advocating for climate action within Amazon, formed the organization Amazon Employees for Climate Justice and garnered support from thousands of colleagues. Over time, Cunningham and Costa expanded their demonstrations. Following Amazon's notification that they had breached its rules regarding external communication by publicly discussing the company, their group mobilized 400 employees to do the same, intentionally breaking the policy to send a message. During the early stages of the pandemic, they arranged an internal event for warehouse workers to address tech employees about their safety concerns at work. Shortly after, both women were terminated by Amazon. Democratic Senator Elizabeth Warren raised concerns about possible retaliation in a letter to Amazon, and Tim Bray, a prominent figure in internet history and former vice president at Amazon's cloud computing division, resigned in protest. This spring, attorneys from the National Labour Relations Board determined that Costa and Cunningham were fired as a result of their organizing efforts. The agency's Seattle office then filed a case against Amazon, alleging that the company had unfairly enforced certain policies to prevent employees from participating in protected activities. The hearing was set to begin on Tuesday, but was postponed as the parties negotiated a settlement. This is just one of several disputes Amazon has had with the labour board during the pandemic. In a notable case in August, a hearing officer recommended that the NLRB invalidate a union election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama due to the company's actions interfering with the fairness of the election. Amazon denies any wrongdoing and plans to appeal if the regional office of the labour board agrees with the recommendation to overturn the election that rejected the union.