Union election set at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse

Amazon and a young union of workers at its Staten Island warehouse have agreed terms for an election for the end of March, setting the stage for two major elections at Amazon warehouses at the same time.

The election at the Staten Island warehouse will be held in person March 25-30, according to Christian Smalls, a former Amazon employee in Staten Island who leads the organizing effort there. He also has tweeted a screenshot of a text message Amazon sent to settlement workers on Wednesday with the same dates. The message also urged workers to “vote NO”.

The timing of the vote coincides with an election at Amazon’s warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, near Birmingham.

Mail-in ballots for this election — an overhaul after the National Labor Relations Board rejected a previous vote due to what it said was improper interference by Amazon — have already been sent to workers and must be returned by March 25. said he would begin counting those ballots on March 28, a process that could take several days.

The agency determined in late January that Staten Island’s new union, called the Amazon Labor Union, had collected enough signatures to show there was enough interest in holding an election. Amazon and the union reached an agreement on the logistics of the vote just before the start of a hearing on Wednesday morning.

The agency confirmed that a tentative settlement had been reached but did not provide details.

“It’s up to the workers now,” Mr Smalls said. “We have the momentum. I have seen a very positive change since we submitted our application, and we just hope that we can continue this momentum.

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel said the company remains skeptical that there are enough “legitimate signatures” to support the campaign petition. She added that after the agency determined the election could go ahead, “we want our employees to have their voices heard as soon as possible.”

“Our employees have always had the choice whether or not to join a union,” she added, “and our goal remains to work directly with our team to make Amazon a better place to work.”