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NEW YORK (AP) — An independent group of former and current Amazon workers is trying to organize a corporate warehouse in New York, a David and Goliath scenario that could lead to the retail giant’s first unionized facility in the US.
Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island will decide if they want to form a union, and the vote counting is expected to begin Thursday.
In Alabama, where the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Syndicate is facing a tough challenge in a re-election to unionize Amazon workers in the city of Bessemer, the countdown for a separate worker organizing effort is expected to begin as soon as Thursday. The union said turnout was around 39%, with only 2,375 of the approximately 6,100 eligible workers voting via postal ballot.
In New York, the nascent Amazon Labor Union took responsibility in a fierce workers’ struggle where the nation’s second-largest private employer made every effort to fend off labor organizers and Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who is now leading the newly formed group. .
The Staten Island warehouse employs more than 8,300 workers who pack and ship supplies to customers, mostly in the northeast. A labor gain is considered an uphill battle. But organizers believe their grassroots approach is closer to workers and can help them overcome where established unions have failed in the past.
Meanwhile, Amazon has pulled back sharply. The retail giant held mandatory meetings where workers were told unions were a bad idea. The company also launched an anti-union website targeting workers and posted posters in English and Spanish at its Staten Island facility urging the union to reject.
New York is more worker-friendly than Alabama, where other union elections are held. But some experts believe it won’t make much difference to the outcome of the Staten Island election, citing federal labor laws that favor employers and Amazon’s anti-union stance.
“The employer is the same, and that’s the key,” said Ruth Milkman, a labor and labor movements sociologist at the City University of New York. “Amazon resists this with everything it has.”
ALU said they do not have a demographic breakdown of warehouse workers in Staten Island, and Amazon declined to provide information to the Associated Press, citing the union vote. Internal records leaked to The New York Times from 2019 showed that more than 60% of hourly workers at the facility were Black or Hispanic, and most executives were white or Asian. But it’s not clear how the plant’s high turnover rate is changing things.
Amazon employees often travel the other end of the New York metro area by subway and then take a 40-minute public bus ride to reach the warehouse. At a nearby bus stop, organizers put up signs encouraging workers to vote in favor of the union. An article that reads “WE ARE PEOPLE, NOT MACHINES” sends a nod to worker complaints about long shifts and the company’s “work off” tool that punishes employees for taking too many breaks.
Among other things, Staten Island employees seek longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees, and an hourly wage of $30, which is just over $18 an hour offered by the company. An Amazon spokesperson said the company is helping grow workers’ careers by investing in wages and benefits such as healthcare, 401(k) plans and a prepaid college education program.
“As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees,” the spokesperson said in an emailed statement. “Our focus remains working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
ALU organizers say they are optimistic about their chances of winning, but challenges remain.
To organize the election, the organizers collected signatures from around 30% of eligible voters, the legal threshold. Typically, unions seek support from 60% or more of eligible employees before applying for an election. This is done to avoid any loss of support that can occur when employers step up their efforts to persuade workers not to unionise.
Connor Spence, ALU’s vice president of membership, said organizers chose not to pursue this strategy due to high turnover.
“This strategy only works for smaller companies with lower turnover,” Spence said.
The ALU also traditionally lacks the formal support of the large well-staffed and well-funded unions. Leader Smalls said his group has spent $100,000 raised since it was founded last year. In early March, he said he only had $3,000 left in his account and was working on a weekly budget.
Unite Here, an international union representing workers in the hospitality and other industries, and United Food and Commercial Workers International Union, a separate union affiliated with RWDSU, stepped in and gave organizers office space, additional volunteers and a lawyer to assist with legal filings. . Local community groups are also reaching out to workers, making art and raising money for the ALU. As the election neared, organizers prepared a potluck feeding 400 workers and held a rally to create more enthusiasm.
Pro-union workers also stepped up their efforts. Michelle Valentin Nieves, a warehouse worker, said she quietly supported union repression, but decided that when the ALU secured the election, she decided to be more public and stayed up late after her shift to distribute pro-union leaflets. She said the arrangement was met with hostility by some Amazon executives, she said.
“I’m getting the death stare,” Nieves said. “Some people stopped talking to me.”
Organizers have already filed several complaints with the NLRB against the company, citing unfair labor practices, including surveillance of pro-union employees.
Other warehouse workers, such as Elijah Ramos, 22, said they planned to vote against the union, skeptical that the ALU could get Amazon to accept higher wages and other benefits. Ramos said he believed the organizers did not have enough experience to represent him.
While he thought a union could bring good things, Ramos said it could constantly clash with the company and create further complications.
“It’s better to deal with what we have than with something we don’t know what to do with them,” he said.
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