Amazon faces another union vote this month

Amazon labour organisers on Staten Island are preparing for their second major test, just days after achieving a historic union victory at a nearby warehouse in New York City.

Around 1,500 eligible workers at the Staten Island LD5 sorting facility will vote on whether or not to join the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), a newly formed union founded by a group of current and former Amazon warehouse workers.

Voting will run from Monday until Friday, 29th April, with counting set to begin on the 2nd May, about a month after the historic results at the JFK8 fulfilment centre.

The ballots will be cast secretly inside a tent, with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) overseeing the process.

Earlier this month Amazon workers at the JFK8 facility on Staten Island voted to join the ALU, in one of the most significant worker victories in modern US labour history.

The election result marked the first time that a majority of employees at an Amazon facility voted to join a union.

After six days of in-person voting, 2,654 workers voted to unionise, versus 2,131 against.

Amazon said at the time that it was disappointed with the outcome of the election, because it believed having a direct relationship with the company was best for its employees.

The company has been extremely aggressive in its attempts to defeat any labour organising. It reportedly spent $4.3 million last year fighting unionisation drives around the US and paid $3,200 a day to professional union busters.

ALU organisers have accused the company's management of harassing and intimidating workers, and forcing them to attend to anti-union meetings.

Amazon has challenged the defeat at JFK8, accusing the ALU of engaging in objectionable, coercive and deceptive behaviour to sway workers.

Amazon filed an appeal about a week after the outcome was announced, stating that the regional office of the NLRB 'unfairly and inappropriately' influenced the result.

According to the documents obtained by the New York Times, Amazon said the vote should be reversed because the ALU deliberately created hostile confrontations and offered marijuana to workers for their support.

Since the union's election victory at JFK8, the ALU has received enquiries from employees at dozens of Amazon locations in the United States and throughout the world about creating unions at their facilities.

The union has also received over $300,000 in donations on GoFundMe.

Christian Smalls, the ALU's president, who was dismissed from an Amazon warehouse in the early days of the pandemic, termed the victory at the JFK8 warehouse "a catalyst for a revolution with Amazon workers."

He said he hoped the victory would have a "domino effect" on other facilities.

In November, thousands of Amazon workers worldwide protested on Black Friday as part of the 'Make Amazon Pay' campaign. The campaign group included 70 trade unions and organisations, who called for better working conditions at Amazon offices and warehouses, fair wages for employees, and accountability from top executives.