Amazon Labor Union, made history in April by First Amazon warehouse consolidation in the US, lost its latest campaign today, at a facility in Schodack, New York. Workers voted 406 to 206 against joining the union, the second of three ALU consolidation campaigns at Amazon warehouses.
The result is a setback for workers seeking more voice at Amazon, which has been a staunch opponent of consolidation and has spent months challenging the only successful campaign, in Staten Island.
“We are proud of the brave workers of upstate New York who stood up in the face of an evil anti-union campaign to challenge a trillion dollar corporation,” said ALU president Chris Smalls. wrote in a statement, saying the union would continue to organize in Schodack. He claimed the vote was unfair because Amazon has been subjecting workers to daily threats to prevent a union victory.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel welcomed today’s results in her own statement. “We are delighted that our team in Albany was able to listen to their voices and that they chose to keep a direct relationship with Amazon because we think this is the best arrangement for both employees and our customers,” she wrote.
Today’s vote brings the total number of Amazon warehouses tried to consolidate to 4. After winning first election at the JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island in April, ALU lost one second election at a smaller warehouse across the street. Organized Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Alliance run again elections to represent workers in Bessemer, Alabama, this year, but the results are still too close to call.
The union failure at the ALB1 warehouse in Schodack, near Albany, after a week of volatile labor at Amazon, coincided with last week’s Early Access Sale. Workers at two sites in Georgia and two in Illinois go out for claims ranging from a raise to protection against injury and sexual harassment. On the same day, workers in the Moreno Valley, part of California Inland Empire Logistics Centerpaid for the first ALU election in California. Three days later, workers at Amazon’s nearby air freight center in San Bernardino continued beatdemanding higher wages and improved working conditions.
Today’s defeated campaign has its roots in the personal history of main organizer Heather Goodall. She took a job picking and packing items for shipping at ALB1 in February in an effort to find out if the news she’d read about Amazon’s harsh work environment was true. are not. Her interest in workplace conditions developed after one of her sons took his own life, becoming one in a series of suicides and murders by employees of the chipmaker. GlobalFoundries, which she believes is linked to a bad work environment. (GlobalFoundries said The health and safety of its employees is a top priority and it offers 24/7 consultation.)
Goodall was quick to conclude that the “rumors were true” about Amazon’s harsh working conditions. She has seen injuries, high turnover, and signs telling workers “No pay for Covid. “There are no excuses,” she said, in defiance of state law. An ambulance is a common sight outside the warehouse, Goodall said, and one came to pick her up after her heart condition flared while on duty. “When you see it daily or weekly, it becomes normalized and people stop questioning it,” she said.
