On Thursday, Amazon’s efforts against trade unions at its corporate warehouse facilities in New York and Alabama showed that the technology giant faced potentially historic organized labor results.
On Thursday, at Amazon jfk8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, the total number of votes showed 1518 in favor of joining the Amazon Union and 1154 against. The count will resume at 10 a.m. EST on Friday.
Meanwhile, Amazon seems to be fighting back another effort to unionize a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, as employees vote on whether to be represented by the retail, wholesale and Department Store Union (rwdsu).
There were 993 votes against joining the trade union and 875 votes in favour. However, 416 votes were questioned. Since this figure is enough to affect the voting results, the National Industrial Relations Commission will hold a hearing to decide whether any questioned votes should be opened and counted.
“Every vote must be counted,” Stuart Appelbaum, rwdsu chairman, said in an email statement. “Amazon’s employees have gone through an unnecessary long and fierce struggle to form a union. Amazon does its best to spread misinformation and deception.”
The Alabama vote was the second effort to unionize at the Bessemer plant, where 6153 workers were eligible to vote. 2375 ballots were mailed, of which 59 were invalid.
Last April, the trade union organization was overthrown by a huge advantage. 1798 people voted against joining rwdsu and 738 people voted for joining rwdsu in warehouse facility bhm1.
Before calling for a second election, NLRB said it found that Amazon “interfered with employees’ free and reasonable choice by creating irregularities in the election process.” NLRB said that a mailbox was installed outside Amazon’s main entrance, and employees were improperly asked about their support for the Union during mandatory meetings.
In August, an NLRB hearing official ruled that Amazon exceeded the allowed guidelines and put undue pressure on Bessemer warehouse workers to prohibit them from joining the Warehouse Union. The official proposed a new election in a report.
NLRB said that Amazon or rwdsu can challenge the conditions of the latest election, and the trade union has filed allegations of unfair labor practices.
In New York, Chris smalls, a staff member of the 2019 coronavirus disease organization, was fired after organizing a work strike.
“We don’t want to be too confident that we have won,” smalls told the associated press.
Workers on Staten Island are seeking longer breaks, paid leave for injured employees and an hourly salary of $30, while the company offers a minimum hourly salary of just over $18, AP reported.