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Amazon workers in Staten Island, N.Y., voted to unionize on Friday, marking the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant\u2019s history and handing an unexpected win to a nascent group that fueled the union drive.<\/p>\nWarehouse workers cast 2,654 votes \u2013 or about 55% \u2013 in favor of a union, giving the fledgling Amazon Labor Union enough support to pull off a victory. According to the National Labor Relations Board, which is overseeing the process, 2,131 workers \u2013 or 45% \u2013 rejected the union bid.<\/p>\n
The 67 ballots that were challenged by either Amazon or the ALU were not enough to sway the outcome. Federal labor officials said the results of the count won\u2019t be verified until they process any objections \u2013 due by April 8 \u2013 that both parties may file.<\/p>\n
The victory was an uphill battle for the independent group, made up of former and current workers who lacked official backing from an established union and were outgunned by the deep-pocketed retail giant. Despite obstacles, organizers believed their grassroots approach was more relatable to workers and could help them overcome where established unions have failed in the past. They were right.<\/p>\n
Chris Smalls,\u00a0a fired Amazon employee<\/a>\u00a0who has been leading the ALU in its fight on Staten Island, bounded out of the NLRB building in Brooklyn on Friday with other union organizers, pumping their fists and jumping, chanting \u201cALU.\u201d They uncorked a bottle of Champagne, and Smalls hailed the victory as a call to arms for other Amazon workers across the sprawling company.<\/p>\n \u201cI hope that everybody\u2019s paying attention now, because a lot of people doubted us,\u201d he said<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n Smalls hopes the success in New York will embolden workers at other facilities to launch their own organizing campaigns. Even his group will soon shift its attention to a neighboring Amazon warehouse, also on Staten Island, where a separate union election is scheduled to be held in late April. Organizers believe Friday\u2019s win is going to make it easier for them to win there, too.<\/p>\n Amazon posted a statement on its company website Friday saying that it was evaluating its options following the election.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re disappointed with the outcome of the election in Staten Island because we believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees,\u201d the post said. \u201cWe\u2019re evaluating our options, including filing objections based on the inappropriate and undue influence by the NLRB that we and others (including the National Retail Federation and U.S. Chamber of Commerce) witnessed in this election.\u201d<\/p>\n The company did not elaborate but it signaled it might challenge the election based on a lawsuit filed in March by the NLRB, which sought to force Amazon to\u00a0reinstate a fired employee<\/a>\u00a0who was involved in the union drive.<\/p>\n NLRB spokesperson Kayla Blado responded to Amazon\u2019s statement by noting that the independent agency has been authorized by Congress to enforce the National Labor Relations Act.<\/p>\n \u201cAll NLRB enforcement actions against Amazon have been consistent with that Congressional mandate,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Mark Cohen, director of retail studies at Columbia University, said he doesn\u2019t see how workers will benefit from a unionized Amazon facility and called the overall push to unionize companies misguided. He said that Amazon is a \u201chighly disciplined and regimented\u201d business willing to pay premium wages and good benefits, but it also demands tremendous output from its workers who work 10-hour shifts.<\/p>\n \u201cAmazon is not going to change their culture because there is now a union in their midst,\u201d Cohen said. \u201d\u201cThey might be forced to let people work eight hours but those people will make less money.\u201d<\/p>\n The successful union effort on Staten Island stood in contrast to the one launched in\u00a0Bessemer, Ala.,<\/a>\u00a0by the more established Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Workers at an Amazon warehouse there appeared to have\u00a0rejected a union bid<\/a>\u00a0but outstanding challenged ballots could change the outcome. The votes were 993-to-875 against the union. A hearing to review 416 challenged ballots is expected to begin in the next few days.<\/p>\n The union campaigns come at a time of widespread labor unrest at many corporations. Workers at more than 140 Starbucks locations around the country, for instance, have requested union elections and several of them have already been successful.<\/p>\n But Amazon has long been considered a top prize for the labor movement given the company\u2019s massive size and impact. The results in Staten Island reverberated all the way to the White House.<\/p>\n \u201cThe president was glad to see workers ensure their voices are heard with respect to important workplace decisions,\u201d White House press secretary Jen Psaki said at Friday\u2019s briefing about the vote. \u201cHe believes firmly that every worker in every state must have a free and fair choice to join a union and the right to bargain collectively with their employer.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cGetting Amazon to the bargaining table will be another feat all together,\u201d said Erin Hatton, a sociology professor at the University of Buffalo in New York. . \u201cOftentimes the union will fizzle out because the company doesn\u2019t come to the bargaining table in good faith as they\u2019re obliged to do.\u201d<\/p>\n Rebecca Givan, professor of labor studies at Rutgers University, said the victory is just the first step in a likely protracted battle against Amazon.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s clear Amazon will keep fighting, they\u2019re not conceding that workers have a right to organize,\u201d she said. \u201cIt looks like the legal questions they\u2019ve raised this afternoon suggest they\u2019re trying to undermine entire authority of NLRB.\u201d<\/p>\n Amazon workers in Staten Island are seeking longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees and an hourly wage of $30, up from a minimum of just over $18 per hour offered by the company. The estimated average wage for the borough is $41 per hour, according to a similar U.S. Census Bureau analysis of Staten Island\u2019s $85,381 median household income.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Amazon workers in Staten Island, N.Y., voted to unionize on Friday, marking the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant\u2019s history and handing an unexpected win to a nascent group that fueled the union drive. Warehouse workers cast 2,654 votes \u2013 or about 55% \u2013 in favor of a union, giving the fledgling Read More…<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":16928,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[3,133,40,5,1],"tags":[1359,12,1088],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16923"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=16923"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16923\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":16927,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/16923\/revisions\/16927"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/16928"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=16923"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=16923"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/test.nahtnow.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=16923"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}