Home » Amazon News • US Employment News » Amazon workers seek to unionize in a California warehouse

Amazon workers seek to unionize in a California warehouse

By Nithya Bose in Amazon News, posted October 12, 2022

Amazon workers in a Southern California warehouse have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to unionize.

Workers at the ONT8 warehouse in Moreno Valley, California, are attempting to join the Amazon Labor Union.

This would be the first time staffers at an Amazon site in California voted on whether or not to form a union.

Earlier this year, a Staten Island warehouse known as JFK8 was successfully unionized by the grassroots group of former and current Amazon employees.

Kayla Blado, an NLRB representative, confirmed that ONT8 organizers filed papers with the agency on Tuesday for a proposed bargaining unit of 800 employees.

Blado said the is expecting more documents from the union before it can proceed to verify that the group has shown interest.

It would signal that it has reached the requisite number of employee signatures.

In a tweet, ALU head Chris Smalls announced the filing of a petition and applauded the workers for their efforts to organize their workplace.

Amazon representatives did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

The initiative adds to the recent spike in labor organizing among Amazon employees.

The record vote at Amazon's JFK8 warehouse sparked further unionization attempts at other sites.

Workers will vote on whether to join the ALU on Wednesday, October 12 at a site near Albany.

The election closes on October 17, and the NLRB begins counting ballots the next day.

ONT8 is located in the Inland Empire, a region east of Los Angeles that has been a significant development target for Amazon and other e-commerce businesses.

Warehouses and delivery hubs have proliferated dramatically in recent years, causing concerns about pollution and other environmental issues.

With over 40,000 employees, Amazon is the region's largest private employer.

Need Career Advice? Get employment skills advice at all levels of your career

As of the end of 2021, the conglomerate employed more than 1.6 million workers worldwide.

Workers at a key Amazon air hub in neighboring San Bernardino recently walked out in order to demand salary hikes and voice safety concerns.

They vowed to strike again this week, this time in Georgia and Illinois, to push the firm to address employee concerns over working conditions.

Source: CNBC

Follow us on YouTube, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Facebook.