Amazon workers at aStaten Island warehousefacility voted in favor of forming a join Friday , notch a momentous victory a grow U.S. labor movement .
The first - of - its - form conjugation paves the way for other effort throughout Amazon and represents a major blow for the company , which hasfoughttooth - and - nailto choke unionization feat . Amazon may now have to worry about what was once a small join spark spreading into a company - wide wildfire .
Workers in the JFK8 fulfilment center vote 2,654 - 2,131 to work a union Friday morning , according to a National Labor Relations Board vote count . Amazon has until April 8 to appeal the Staten Island lead . closely 1,000 miles to the Confederate States , worker in a Bessemer , Alabama warehouse ended vote on Thursday evening 993 - 875 against forming a trades union , though more than 400 challenge ballots could swing the outcome in the union ’s favour .
Photo: Erik McGregor (Getty Images)
Gizmodo spoke with Amazon Labor Union ( ALU ) organizer Tristian Martinez , who has been working with the matrimony since the 2020walk out . Martinez said he and other workers heard of the vote count while they were on the job . The news show rapidly spread through the building , with texts and calls stream in . “ Everybody knew within min , ” he said . Of course , not everyone was thrill .
“ I could see the tone on the managers ’ faces . Some of them were impart me unsporting looks . I could just see the look of defeat and ire on some of them , ” he tell .
But there was no shortfall of smiles amongst the prole . Martinez said he was in person so overcome with excitement that he had to get up and depart . “ I wanted to bleed around the whole construction just order everyone ! ”
In response to a request for remark from Gizmodo , Amazon articulate it ’s “ evaluating our option , ” which could let in filling objection ground on claim of “ inappropriate and undue influence ” from the NLRB .
“ We ’re foiled with the result of the election in Staten Island because we believe having a direct kinship with the company is proficient for our employees , ” Amazon said .
@amazonwanted to make me the face of the whole unionizing efforts against them … . welp there you go!@JeffBezos@DavidZapolskyCONGRATULATIONS 🎉 @amazonlaborWe worked had fun and made History ‼️ ✊ 🏾#ALU # ALUfortheWin welcome the 1st unification in America for Amazon 🔥 🔥 🔥 🔥
— Christian Smalls ( @Shut_downAmazon)April 1 , 2022
An unprecedented victory
Martinez said Friday ’s right to vote was an unexpected and welcome surprisal . Staten Island ’s Amazon Labor Union is unaffiliated with any home Department of Labor organizations , unlike the proposed union in Alabama .
“ aboveboard I anticipate it [ the vote ] to be a small closer , ” Martinez tell . “ I could not have guess that we would do something that other unions have been trying to do for years and have failed to . I can honestly say I ’m so proud to be a part of that . ”
“ Welp there you go , ” Amazon Labor Union President Christian Smallswroteon Twitter immediately trace the vote . “ We run had fun and made History … welcome the 1st North in America for Amazon . ”
The Staten Island vote represents a major victory both for Amazon worker and for the U.S. Department of Labor effort as a whole . Amazon is thesecond - largest U.S. employer second only to Walmart . Put another way of life , one in every 169 U.S. workers is utilise there . None of those actor were organize until now . Though other Amazon site have tried and failed to organize , Staten Island has set up an important case in point other warehouses could follow . Amazon has expend years trying tostamp outthat possibility .
The Staten Island victory take in immediate praise from counsellor and bodied accountability chemical group like the American Economic Liberties Project .
“ Today ’s vote to unionize is a massive victory for worker at Amazon warehouses and for the entire work class ” AELP Executive Director Sarah Miller siad in an emailed command to Gizmodo . Miller predicted a “ wave of similar campaigns that is now likely to tangle the land . ”
That promise expressed by Miller of similar pro - worker run carry off is bolster by late data . Recent polling suggests Amazon workers likely have the bulk of Americans on their side : 77 % of register voterssurveyedin a February Politico / Morning Consultpollsaid they support employee rights to collective bargaining .
Even if the Bessemer , Alabama vote does n’t go the conglutination ’s way , the pro - Federal side still made significant , mostly unexpected gain that show to growing sexual union sympathies . When workers at the Alabama warehouse last voted on organise in 2021 , the upshot end in alandslide exit , with workers voting 1,798 - 738 against the union . Workers were allot a re - vote after the National Labor Relations Boardconcludedthe company had plunder U.S. labor laws following allegation from workers that the company went toobsessive lengthsto deter them from vote for the union . Just 39 % of eligible workers vote this time around , down from 55 % last year , agree toCNBC .
“ Workers at Amazon endured a needlessly long and strong-growing scrap to unionize their work , with Amazon doing everything it could to spread misinformation and deception , ” said Retail , Wholesale and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum . RWDSU is representing workers at the Bessemer Amazon warehouse .
Another day, another anti-union tactic at Amazon
Amazon has a long , bordering onabsurdrecord when it come to trades union - busting tactic , and this time around was no exclusion . Reporting this week from CNBCrevealedAmazon employed Global Strategy Group , a consulting house with tie to the Democratic Party , to make anti - union textile like flyers and videos feature Amazon managing director and executive . Both the videos and flyers used phrases like “ take out it : Get the facts about union , ” and “ One squad , bring together . ”
That ’s more of the same for Amazon , and now we have the receipts to prove it . harmonise to new US Department of Labor filling spotted by HuffPo , Amazonreportedlypaid anti - Federal consultants around $ 4.3 million just in 2021 . That ’s an exceptionally tumid sum , according toan psychoanalysis from the Economic Policy Institute , which incur that few firms ever surpass $ 1 million in anti - Federal spending .
Staten Island worker take over the brunt of anti - union movement . Just last week , areportin The City cited multiple Staten Island Amazon employee who claimed they were required to posture in mandatory meetings with faculty todissuadethem from unionizing . Months earlier , the NLRB had filed acomplaintagainst Amazon claim troupe consultants illicitly threaten workers at the facility and referred to matrimony organiser as “ thugs . ”
Martinez , the ALU Organizer , said he did n’t see the reported intimidation first - hand during the vote but give tongue to concerns that managing director may have made some workers feel like they were command to vote ( they are not ) . That , he speculated , could create a situation where some workers who otherwise would have abstained from ballot chose to vote no instead to avoid Amazon ’s wrath .
“ This fight is the spark of the 21st C labor cause , and we know it will forever transform how Americans view union in this commonwealth , ” Appelbaum said .
In Staten Island , Martinez said he hopes Friday ’s results will gentle concerns from critic who belittle ALU for its supposed lack of experience .
“ With our rawness , we orchestrate one storage warehouse and have another election already on the way , ” he said . “ We have more drive than any other union because we are the workers . We have influence in that warehouse , we have worked for Jeff Bezos . Every union in the country start from somewhere . ”
AmazonGizmodoJeff BezosLabor relationsUnion busting
Daily Newsletter
Get the estimable technical school , scientific discipline , and culture news in your inbox daily .
News from the future , delivered to your nowadays .
You May Also Like
