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Workers at Amazon’s massive Staten Island warehouse voted by a wide margin to form a union, a stunning win for a campaign targeting the nation’s second-largest employer and one of the biggest victories for organized labor, according to results announced Friday. generation.
According to the first tally released by the National Labor Relations Board, employees voted 2,654 to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union and 2,131 against, giving the union a gain of about 10 percentage points. More than 8,300 workers at the building, the only Amazon fulfillment center in New York City, were eligible to vote.
The Staten Island victory could herald a new era for labor unions in the United States, which saw the share of workers in unions fall to 10.3 percent last year. successful labor activity.
No union victory is greater than the first in the Amazon in the United States; Many union leaders consider it an existential threat to labor standards throughout the economy, as it touches and often dominates many sectors.
The Staten Island result came right after what happened. trend towards a narrow loss In a campaign brought by the Association of Retail, Wholesale, and Department Stores at a large Amazon warehouse in Alabama. The vote is so close that the results will not be known for several weeks, as the contested ballot papers are the subject of the lawsuit.
The staggering strength of unions in both places likely means Amazon will face years of labor pressure from independent worker groups, major unions targeting the company, and environmental and other progressive activists working with them. As a recent series of union victories at Starbucks showedVictories in one position can encourage others.
Amazon has hired greedily over the past two years and now has 1.6 million employees worldwide. But died bothered by high turnover, and the pandemic has fueled concerns about workplace safety while giving employees a heightened sense of power. The Staten Island warehouse known as JFK8 was the subject of the New York Times. investigation discovered last year that it was symbolic of the stresses in Amazon’s employment model.
“The pandemic has fundamentally changed the labor landscape,” said John Logan, professor of labor studies at San Francisco State University. “It’s just a question of whether unions can take advantage of the opportunity that the transformation opens up.”
Amazon did not immediately comment on the result. The company may, in principle, object to the vote on the grounds that the union’s conduct is inappropriate.
Derrick Palmer, who packs the boxes in the warehouse and co-founder of the Amazon Labor Union, said other facilities that follow Staten Island are waiting. “This will be the first union,” he said, “but moving forward will motivate other workers to join us.”
This is a developing story. Check back for updates.
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