Amazon (AMZN) was handed a defeat on Thursday in a contentious battle against its New York City workers seeking to unionize a fulfillment center in Staten Island.
In a report issued by an administrative law judge for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), a hearing officer for the agency recommended that votes submitted during the facility’s March election, narrowly in favor of unionization, should stand.
"After conducting a hearing over 24 business days via the Zoom...and carefully reviewing the evidence and arguments made by the parties, the hearing officer, Lisa Dunn, concluded that [Amazon's] objections should be overruled in their entirety," stated Kayla Blado, press Secretary for the NLRB's office of Congressional and Public Affairs.
The recommendation, which now goes to an NLRB regional director for an official ruling, says Amazon Labor Union should be certified as the bargaining representative for the facility's hourly full-time and regular-part time associates over the objection of Amazon, which argued that the vote should be recast due to conduct by the NLRB''s Region 29 and others that it said impacted election results.
Amazon spokesperson, Kelly Nantel, responded to the NLRB's recommendation, saying that the company is still reviewing the decision, though strongly disagrees with the conclusion and intends to appeal.
"As we showed throughout the hearing with dozens of witnesses and hundreds of pages of documents, both the NLRB and the ALU improperly influenced the outcome of the election and we don’t believe it represents what the majority of our team wants,” Nantel said.
The final tally for the election at the warehouse known as JFK8 included votes from less than 32% of the facility's workers. Those in favor of unionization totaled 2,654 and votes against totaled 2,131. Another 67 were challenged.
In an objection to the election filed April 8, Amazon argued that the vote should be invalidated on several grounds. The company claimed that the Amazon Labor Union and the NLRB’s regional arm, which hosted the vote, violated standards meant to ensure free and fair elections.
Amazon argued that the NLRB's Region 29 improperly broke from its required neutral position a week before the election, seeking the reinstatement of a former Amazon employee fired nearly two years prior. The company alleged that the NLRB also unfairly permitted the union to display pro-union paraphernalia and frustrated the voting process with hours-long ballot lines.
Amazon also argued that the ALU improperly influenced voters by distributing marijuana in exchange for union support and lied about the New York Police Department’s arrest of its president, Christian Smalls.
“Amazon's objections are nothing more than a sideshow and a distraction,” Eric Milner, a lawyer for ALU argued during the hearing. “The Union must be certified and Amazon must bargain in good faith.”
Amazon has until September 16 to file an objection to the NLRB's recommendation. A ruling on the matter is expected to take weeks or months following that deadline.
Alexis Keenan is a legal reporter for Yahoo Finance. Follow Alexis on Twitter @alexiskweed.
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