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NEW YORK – After hard-won labor victories, Amazon workers in New York City’s Staten Island borough popped champagne, applauded their victory and danced in celebration. But their jovial demeanor will be tested by a company that looks like it can keep up with the bargaining table.
Among other things, the nascent Amazon Labor Union, or ALU, said it wants longer breaks, more leave for warehouse workers, and a significantly higher minimum hourly wage of $30, which is currently just over $18 an hour at its Staten Island facility.
To get anything close to that, the grassroots union will need to negotiate a contract with Amazon that both parties and union members agree on. This can be difficult to do.
Amazon is seeking to disrupt the election, arguing in a filing it submitted to the National Labor Relations Board this month that the vote was tainted by organizers and the Brooklyn board’s district office that oversees the election. On Friday, the company filed a filing with the agency in support of their appeal. A spokesperson for the working board said the agency would not make this filing public while the case is still pending. A separate NLRB regional office in the Southwest will likely hold hearings and decide whether to confirm the results.
If Amazon’s efforts fail, it may appeal to the national labor board, where the Democratic majority is expected to support the newly formed union. But even where the agency supports a union victory, companies often refuse to negotiate—a stance that could trigger lengthy legal battles in federal court as a backdoor to blocking worker victories.
Data compiled in 2009 by Kate Bronfenbrenner, a labor expert at Cornell University, found that less than half of unions got their first contract within a year of winning the election, and 30% had not struck a contract within three years. Meanwhile, time flies as workers remain in a state of uncertainty.
John Logan, director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University, says anti-union companies have traditionally held the view that even if they lose an election, the war isn’t really lost until a union contract is signed.
“There is every incentive for them to delay the process at every opportunity,” Logan said. “For years, law firms and consultants specializing in perpetual avoidance have openly told employers, ‘Time is on your side’. “
Even if Amazon fails to go to federal court, it could still cause a contract delay and potentially blunt some of the momentum a union victory can create. Fired Amazon worker Chris Smalls, who leads the Amazon Workers Union, said since the group won elections earlier this month, workers from more than 100 Amazon sites in the US have contacted the union to organize their own workplaces. A neighboring Amazon warehouse in Staten Island with nearly 1,500 workers will hold its own union election this week.
Experts say contract delays can frustrate such union campaigns and undermine workers’ confidence in organized labor. The result may be poor contracting or a decreased interest in organizing among workers.
If Amazon takes a protracted legal battle before accepting a contract, the number of employees in the warehouse voting for union is likely to decline. Amazon is known for its high turnover rate of up to 73% in its syndicated warehouse in the last two years alone, according to a recent court filing of the company.
One way for workers to take a step back is to strike. This, of course, comes with its own risks. Michael Duff, a former NLRB attorney who teaches at the University of Wyoming Law School, noted that Amazon could replace any striker with a reserve worker, potentially leaving strikers out of work for months or even years.
Some unions have funds to help unemployed strikers survive. However, maintaining this support can be burdensome for unions. It’s also difficult for workers to survive long strikes, something employers are well aware of, Duff said.
Connor Spence, an Amazon employee who is ALU’s vice president of membership, says the nascent union is poised to put pressure on the company through the news media and arousing public sympathy. Public endorsement of unions is the highest since 1965, according to an August Gallup poll.
ALU organizers, who recently attended a virtual event with Senator Bernie Sanders, a longtime labor litigation advocate, will also try to persuade lawmakers to trust the retailer, Spence said.
“But at the end of the day, it’s collective action that works,” Spence said.
Spence said organizers could strike or strike to disrupt Amazon’s operations in Staten Island, noting that strikes have taken place at other Amazon facilities in recent months. The group also plans to set up a strike fund using donations raised through its GoFundMe page.
For now, organizers are focused on a rematch with Amazon at the neighboring Staten Island warehouse known as LDJ5. A victory there would give Amazon employees additional leverage during any potential strike or strike.
Amazon and its CEO, Andy Jassy, said the decision whether to join a union is up to the employees, but they believe it is better not to do so. To suppress his claim, the company continues to hold mandatory anti-union meetings for workers – a practice that the labor board’s attorney general is trying to make illegal.
Organizers previously accused Amazon of seizing union flyers from its LDJ5 warehouse. Last week, the union filed a complaint with the NLRB, alleging that Amazon unlawfully prevented it from displaying a pro-union sign in the break room. Organizers say workers were able to display the same sign at neighboring facility JFK8, which voted to unionize.
Seth Goldstein, an attorney who provides free legal aid to the union, claimed that Amazon executives told workers it was against company policy to hang the sign, but did not state the policy and threatened discipline. An Amazon spokesperson said some workers “planted a banner in violation of company policy”, but declined to say why the same banner was allowed to be displayed at the nearby warehouse.
“This is an information war,” said Madeline Wesley, one of the organizers of the LDJ5 repository. “He won’t be able to stop us. But we will have to be a little careful to make sure no one comes to the point of being seriously disciplined or losing their job.”
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