Amazon Labor Union Loses Latest Vote One Month After Historic First
Employees at a second Amazon warehouse on New York’s Staten Island voted against forming a union on Monday. The loss for the worker-led Amazon Labor Union (ALU) came just one month after it led a much larger Staten Island Amazon facility, known as JFK8, to become the first in the country to vote to join a union.
The ALU announced the outcome on its Twitter page on Monday. “The count has finished. The election has concluded without the union being recognized at LDJ5—sortation center on Staten Island. The organizing will continue at this facility and beyond. The fight has just begun,” the tweet said.
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According to a report by CNBC, Monday’s tally at the second facility, known as LDJ5, was 380 votes in favor of the union and 618 opposed. Officials said 1,633 workers at the LDJ5 warehouse were eligible to vote on whether they should become part of the Amazon Labor Union. Two ballots were voided. The results still need to be formally certified by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), the report said.
Christian Smalls, president of the ALU, also tweeted about the result on Monday. He wrote: “Despite today’s outcome, I’m proud of the worker/organizers of LDJ5 they had a tougher challenge after our victory at JFK8. Our leads should be extremely proud to have given their coworkers a right to join a Union @amazonlabor will continue to organize and so should all of you.”
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in a statement: “We’re glad that our team at LDJ5 were able to have their voices heard. We look forward to continuing to work directly together as we strive to make every day better for our employees.”
This victory for Amazon comes days after the e-commerce giant won a hearing from the NLRB to review the company’s complaints around the first union vote in April. The online retailer has accused the NLRB’s Brooklyn office of appearing to support the union drive and alleged that labor organizers intimidated workers to vote in their favor, claims the ALU has dismissed, according to Reuters.
Citing the Brooklyn office’s conduct, Amazon last month secured the case’s transfer to the NLRB’s Phoenix-based region. That office’s director, Cornele Overstreet, said the evidence behind Amazon’s claims “could be grounds for overturning the election,” according to a filing on Friday.
The ALU was formed in April 2021 by a group of concerned workers led Smalls, a process assistant at JFK8 in Staten Island who was fired by Amazon management for organizing protests over Amazon’s unsafe COVID-19 protocols.
In April 2021, Amazon faced off with another group looking to unionize in its Bessemer, Ala., facility. The retailer ultimately won against the union in a 1,798 to 738 vote.
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