A hearing is being held to determine whether Staten Island’s historic victory for the Amazon Labor Union should be considered aEUR” or if a re-do is necessary.
Workers at Staten Island’s largest Amazon warehouse, which employs more than 8,000 people, voted 2,654-2,131 this spring to join the Amazon Labor Union. This grassroots, scrappy organization was founded by former and current Amazon warehouse workers.
Amazon submitted 25 objections to April’s election, just a week after the ballots had been tallied. The company claims that the National Labor Relations Board’s Brooklyn regional office, which oversaw this election, supported the union and helped it win.
Amazon also objected to the actions of the Amazon Labor Union, claiming that organizers threatened and harassed employees who didn’t support the union. They even suggested that they might lose their benefits if the company did not back the union. Amazon claims that union organizers gave marijuana to workers as a reward for their support. Union leaders openly admitted to giving marijuana to workers in return for their support, but not as a bribe.
The case was transferred out of the region because the Amazon filing named the Brooklyn NLRB regional office. This was per standard protocol. According to the NLRB, Phoenix’s regional office was chosen as it could handle the case. The hearing will last several days. It is being streamed live on Zoom.
Amazon has asked the NLRB to conduct a re-election. They called the actions of the NLRB’s Brooklyn branch and the Amazon Labor Union “substantially worse than the installation of a mailbox,” referring specifically to the Amazon union saga in Bessemer (Alabama).
The election took place in early 2021. Warehouse workers voted against joining the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union by more than two to one. However, the results were thrown out and a new election ordered after the NLRB determined that Amazon improperly interfered with the election by installing a mailbox outside of the warehouse.
An earlier election for the Bessemer warehouse was held, but the results were not close enough to call. Both Amazon and the union aEUR”, filed objections.
The Amazon Labor Union lost its second Union Election on Staten Island in April. However, it pledged to keep pushing for the unionization of warehouse workers throughout the country.
