Valley Group’s Ad Warns Amazon About California

The California Business and Industrial Alliance in Sunland has placed a full-page ad in the northwest edition of USA Today to warn Amazon.com Inc. away from locating its second headquarters in the state. The ad features a postcard stating, “Greetings from California,” with a sign reading “Sorry We’re Closed” underneath it. The headline warns the Seattle online retailer that while the weather is nice in California, the business climate is not. The ad encourages Amazon to contact the alliance to help reform “onerous” labor laws. The alliance was founded this year to reform state labor laws, starting with the Private Attorney General Act, or PAGA, that allows any employee to sue for labor violations – such as missed lunchbreaks or unpaid overtime – even if he or she wasn’t directly affected by them. Alliance President Tom Manzo, who is also president of Timely Prefinished Steel Door Frames in Pacoima, said that a large employee like Amazon should approach relocating to California with eyes wide open. “While we’d welcome the company’s help in reforming harmful laws such as PAGA, we also don’t want them to become the latest victim of California’s hostile legal climate,” Manzo said in a prepared statement. Thursday is the deadline for U.S. cities to submit proposals to Amazon to be home to the company’s second headquarters, which is expected to bring about 50,000 jobs.