Amazon takes on union in fight for second warehouse | Business and Economy News

The startup syndicate that won a landmark labor victory at Amazon earlier this year is set to take on the company again, in a bid to rack up more victories that could force the reluctant retail giant to the bargaining table.

This time, the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) and the second largest private employer in the country face off in the town of Schodack, near Albany, New York. Warehouse workers there, which Amazon says employs about 800 people, will finish voting in a union election on Monday. The votes will be tallied Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board.

“There are also a lot of odds against us, but I think there is definitely a huge possibility that we can win,” said Sarah Chaudhry, an 18-year-old who has been organizing the workers since joining the company two months ago. ” I can not live without it. »

The showdown near the state capitol — one of the most unionized metro areas in the nation, according to Unionstats.com — marks the third time the ALU has faced Amazon after its first win at a Staten Island facility in April. . The victory – the first ever for an Amazon factory in the United States – came as a surprise even to those who favored the union’s calls for $30 hourly wages and better working conditions for employees. warehouse.

But soon enough, challenges began to appear. A loss at a second nearby warehouse in May took the syndicate’s breath away. Fractures were revealed when some top organizers left the group.

Elsewhere, the union wasted time and resources trying to consolidate its only victory. Amazon accused the ALU and the NLRB’s field office in Brooklyn of tainting the vote. In a quest for a new election, the company filed more than two dozen objections with the agency, setting off a lengthy process that could take years to resolve.

Last month, a federal labor official who chaired the hearings spoke out against the company, which said it intended to appeal. During an interview last month, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy also signaled that the retail giant could drag the case to federal court.

“Amazon is prepared to fight this to the death,” said John Logan, director of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University. “And the problem for the Amazon Labor Union is that if you only have one warehouse … you will never have enough leverage to force the company to negotiate.”

Amazon repels

The election in Albany offers the ALU a chance to show its victory is not unique, experts say. Heather Goodall, the settlement worker’s top organizer, launched the campaign at the warehouse in May, three months after joining the company and a month after Staten Island’s victory. Her passion for organizing, she said, was born from the death of her son, who committed suicide six years ago while working for a large company.

“So when I heard there were suspicious working conditions in my own community – and I have a 17 and 15 year old who attends the school district in the area where Amazon operates – I wanted to see firsthand what was going on,” Goodall said.

Amazon launched its own campaign to push back against the organizing effort. As it has done with other warehouses, the company held mandatory meetings at the Schodack plant in an attempt to persuade workers to reject the union. He also put up flyers and signs throughout the warehouse urging workers to “vote no”.

“Do not sign an ALU card,” the company said on a sign displayed on a screen at the facility. “The ALU is untested and unproven.”

“We have always said that we want our employees to have their voices heard, and we hope and expect that this process will enable that,” Paul Flaningan, an Amazon spokesperson, said in a statement.

Challenges in building a stand

Last week, Amazon workers at a separate plant in California’s Moreno Valley filed their own union election, seeking to join the ALU. Nannette Plascencia, who has worked at the warehouse for seven years, said she and her colleagues had been trying to organize the facility for more than two years, but the company’s high turnover had made it difficult to build up a enough support.

Another election run by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) at a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama remains too close to be called with 416 disputed ballots still awaiting judgment. The vote, held in February and March, was the union’s second attempt to organize there, after an earlier defeat it contested.

Unlike Starbucks stores that voted to unionize by the hundreds last year, organizing Amazon warehouses is a much more daunting task. Facilities typically employ hundreds, if not thousands, of employees. And it can take months to accumulate enough evidence of support for an election.

Amazon warehouse workers at a factory in Garner, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, have been organizing for months and plan to run for office before the end of September next year, said Tim Platt, an Amazon employee who is soliciting support for the campaign under a group called Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, or CAUSE. Organizers are taking their time filing an election petition to be sure of the outcome by the time workers start voting.

Workers there have chosen not to align with the ALU, although organizers still coordinate with each other on a regular basis. Platt said the workers may join another union in the future. They met the Teamsters, which last month launched a division focused on organizing Amazon workers. But for now, Platt said they’re just focusing on organizing.

Mendoza, ALU’s communications director, said the union is trying to support other workers forming their own organizing committees across the country. However, their main task will be to file their election petitions and build support for the establishment that voted to unionize in case it needs to call for action, such as a strike.

The union was able to hire two full-time employees to help with training and meetings. A donation of $250,000 from the American Federation of Teachers also enabled them to obtain offices in Staten Island. They are building support, but it takes time, Mendoza said.

“You can lose some elections or win others,” he said. “We are not concerned about an individual result like Amazon. They can’t really afford to lose one.