A truck arrives at Amazon’s warehouse in Staten Island, NY, which became the company’s first U.S. compounding facility in the spring.
Eduardo Munoz Avarez / AP
hide captions
switch captions
Eduardo Munoz Avarez / AP
A truck arrives at Amazon’s warehouse in Staten Island, NY, which became the company’s first U.S. compounding facility in the spring.
Eduardo Munoz Avarez / AP
Amazon faces another union vote this year, this time at a facility outside Albany, NY, months after Staten Island workers set up the company’s first union warehouse. company in the United States.
While Amazon pursues legal challenges to that historic alliance’s victoryFederal labor officials on Wednesday approved the warehouse election known as ALB1.
In mid-October, 400 workers there will vote on whether to join the emerging Amazon Labor Union, the same independent group has merged over 8,000 at the massive Staten Island warehouse. It is run by current and former Amazon employees, and is led by one man who Amazon fired after he led a walk in the age of the pandemic.
Other merge attempts were unsuccessful. In the spring, workers at a smaller warehouse on Staten Island vote against joining the ALU. And united efforts failed so far at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama.
At the warehouse in the Albany area, Amazon workers will vote on October 12, 13, 15 and 17 in a tent in the facility’s parking lot. The NLRB will count the votes on October 18.
Amazon, meanwhile, continues to question whether union organizers have gathered enough “legitimate signatures” to secure an election. The rules require organizers to submit the signatures of 30% of the workers they wish to represent. Federal labor officials assessed this before ruling that arranged a vote.
“We’ve always said we want our employees to have their voices heard, and we hope and expect this process to allow that,” said Amazon spokesman Paul Flaningan.
Amazon earlier this month lost a pivotal battle in the attempt to reverse Union victory at Staten Island. An official with the National Labor Relations Board recommended that Amazon’s objections be dismissed outright and the union be certified.
A formal NLRB decision on the matter is expected in the coming days, potentially requiring Amazon to begin contract negotiations with the union.
Editor’s Note: Amazon is one of NPR’s recent financial backers.
