Amazon workers in Staten Island vote to form company’s first U.S. union

Amazon workers in Staten Island, New York, voted to unionize on Friday, marking the first successful U.S. organizing effort in the retail giant’s history and delivering a surprise victory to a fledgling group that fueled the union campaign.

Warehouse workers cast 2,654 votes – or about 55% – in favor of a union, giving Amazon’s fledgling union enough support to secure a victory. According to the National Labor Relations Board, which oversees the process, 2,131 workers — or 45% — rejected the union’s application.

The 67 ballots contested by Amazon or the ALU were not enough to influence the result. Federal labor officials said the results of the tally will not be verified until they address objections — due by April 8 — that both sides may file.

The victory was an uphill battle for the independent group, made up of former and current workers who lacked the official backing of an established union and were overtaken by the deep-pocketed retail giant . Despite the obstacles, organizers believed their grassroots approach was more relevant to workers and could help them overcome where established unions have failed in the past. They were right.

Chris Smalls, a fired Amazon employee who led the ALU in its Staten Island fight, left the NLRB building in Brooklyn on Friday with other union organizers, waving his fists and jumping while chanting “ALU.” They uncorked a bottle of champagne and Smalls hailed the victory as a call to arms for fellow Amazon workers at the sprawling company.

“I hope everyone is careful now because a lot of people were doubting us,” he said.

Smalls hopes the success in New York will encourage workers at other facilities to launch their own organizing drives. Even his group will soon turn its attention to a nearby Amazon warehouse on Staten Island, where a separate union election is due to take place in late April. Organizers believe Friday’s victory will also make things easier for them.

Amazon released a statement on its company website on Friday saying it was weighing its options after the election.

“We are disappointed with the Staten Island election results because we believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees,” the message read. “We are weighing our options, including filing objections based on the inappropriate and undue influence of the NLRB that we and others (including the National Retail Federation and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce) have witnessed in this election. .”

The company didn’t give details, but it did signal that it may contest the election based on a lawsuit filed in March by the NLRB, which sought to force Amazon to reinstate a fired employee who was involved in the union campaign.

Amazon has long argued that workers don’t need a union because the company already offers good wages as well as benefits like health care, 401(k) plans and a prepaid tuition program. to help develop workers’ careers.

The successful union effort on Staten Island contrasted with that launched in Bessemer, Alabama, by the more established retail, wholesale and department store union. Workers at an Amazon warehouse there appeared to have rejected a union offer, but outstanding contested ballots could change the outcome. The votes were 993 to 875 against the union. A hearing to review 416 disputed ballots is expected to begin in the coming days.

The union campaigns come at a time of widespread social unrest in many companies. Workers at more than 140 Starbucks locations across the country, for example, have demanded union elections and several have already won.

But Amazon has long been seen as the labor movement’s top prize given the company’s massive size and impact.

“We are clearly in a different moment after two years of the pandemic. Something has changed in the labor landscape,” said John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University. “It’s a potential tipping point. We knew unions had a moment, but this is much bigger. There’s no greater prize than organizing Amazon.

Logan said he doesn’t believe either union — national or independent labor force — will stand a chance with Amazon, but he’s even more shocked that a small union will be victorious given its limited resources. The group had also filed for a union election after gaining the support of around 30% of the facility’s workforce, a percentage far below what unions usually seek.

Logan said the ALU victory challenges traditional thinking that only national unions can take on big business.

But the group could still have a fight ahead, according to Erin Hatton, a sociology professor at the University at Buffalo in New York.

“Bringing Amazon to the negotiating table will be another feat all together,” Hatton said. “Often the union collapses because the company does not come to the bargaining table in good faith as it is required to do.

Amazon has pushed back strongly ahead of two elections in Staten Island and Bessemer. The retail giant held mandatory meetings, where workers were told unions were a bad idea. The company also launched an anti-union website targeting workers and placed posters in English and Spanish at the Staten Island plant urging them to reject the union. In Bessemer, Amazon made some changes but retained a controversial US Postal Service mailbox that played a key role in the NLRB’s decision to invalidate last year’s vote.

Both labor struggles faced unique challenges. Alabama, for example, is a right-to-work state that prohibits a company and a union from signing a contract that requires workers to pay dues to the union that represents them.

The union landscape in Alabama is also very different from that of New York. Last year, union members made up 22.2% of workers in New York City, ranked only behind Hawaii, according to the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This is more than double the national average of 10.3%. In Alabama, it’s 5.9%.

The predominantly black workforce at the Amazon facility, which opened in 2020, reflects the Bessemer population of more than 70% black residents, according to the latest U.S. census data.

Pro-union workers say they want better working conditions, longer breaks and higher wages. Regular full-time employees at the Bessemer facility earn at least $15.80 per hour, which is higher than the estimated average of $14.55 per hour in the city. That figure is based on an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau’s annual median household income for Bessemer of $30,284, which could include more than one worker.

The ALU said it did not have a demographic breakdown of warehouse workers on Staten Island, and Amazon declined to provide the information to The Associated Press, citing the union’s vote. Internal records leaked to The New York Times from 2019 showed more than 60% of the facility’s hourly associates were black or Latino, while most managers were white or Asian.

Amazon workers there are seeking longer breaks, paid time off for injured employees and an hourly wage of $30, compared to a minimum of just over $18 an hour offered by the company. The estimated average salary for the borough is $41 an hour, according to a similar US Census Bureau analysis of Staten Island’s median household income of $85,381.