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Big win for unionized Amazon staff over New York vote

By Nithya Bose in US business news, posted September 2, 2022

Amazon has failed in an attempt to overturn a historic union win in Staten Island.

The company's bid to wipe out the result of the vote was blocked by a hearing officer for a federal labor board.

The union organizers were granted victory in their battle against the giant corporation, which will come as a relief for the Amazon Labor Union, the grassroots association of former and current employees.

Lisa Dunn, the agency officer who took the company’s case, stated Amazon’s complaints should be entirely overruled.

She ruled the union be authorized as a bargaining representative for the warehouse.

An NLRB spokesperson said: “Employer has not met its burden of establishing that Region 29, the Petitioner, or any third parties have engaged in objectionable conduct affecting the results of the election.”

Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said the company plans to appeal.

Nantel said: “While we’re still reviewing the decision, we strongly disagree with the conclusion and intend to appeal.

“As we showed throughout the hearing with dozens of witnesses and hundreds of pages of documents, both the NLRB and the ALU improperly influenced the outcome of the election.

“We don’t believe it represents what the majority of our team wants.”

The campaigners won the right to unionize in April and both sides have been locked in legal battles since then.

Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who leads the union, tweeted: “Today is a great day for Labor.”

Amazon, the union, and the agency's Brooklyn office now have till September 16 to file any objections.

The regional director can then either order the election results to be certified or request another vote.

The corporation could still appeal the ruling to the five-member labor board, whose Democratic majority is believed to be pro-union.

Even when the agency supports a union win, employers who do not want a unionized workforce usually refuse to bargain.

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This action may result in prolonged legal fights in federal court, which some companies may utilize as a covert attempt to impede labor wins.

In May, the union lost a separate election at a nearby facility, which led to a loss of enthusiasm for the cause in other parts of the country.

Simultaneously, it was committing more time and money to defend its early victory over the e-commerce behemoth.

Other efforts have begun in Amazon warehouses in North Carolina, Kentucky, and elsewhere, with employees attempting to collect enough signatures to qualify for a union election.

Amazon employees in a facility outside Albany, New York, will hold their own election in the coming months.

Source: The Washington Post

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