Amazon's next union vote begins on 12th October
Amazon has a history of anti-union sentiment and is already casting doubt on the process.
A group of Amazon workers who wish to unionise a warehouse near Albany, New York, will vote on the matter next month.
Amazon said on Wednesday that workers at its ALB1 warehouse would cast their votes between th 12th and 17th October, with the ballot count anticipated to begin on the 18th.
Employees at ALB1 submitted a petition last month asking the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) to hold a unionising election at the facility. The group, which is affiliated with the relatively new Amazon Labor Union (ALU), is pushing for increased wages as well as better working conditions.
The NLRB decided that workers at ALB1 had fulfilled all the required conditions to have a union election in late August.
Unions are permitted to conduct elections after gathering petition signatures from at least 30% of employees at a workplace.
Amazon spokesperson Paul Flaningan wasted no time sowing seeds of doubt around the validity of the vote, telling CNBC the company is still unsure if there are enough "valid signatures" to proceed with an election. He added that the company supports workers' rights to have their voices heard (although the company has a history of anti-union action).
Flaningan said Amazon "hope[s] and expect[s] this process allows for that."
This will be the third time in 2022 that workers at an Amazon facility will vote on whether to join the ALU.
ALU, a group of present and former workers, won the first-ever Amazon union election in the USA in April, at the JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island.
Amazon expressed its disappointment with the election results at the time, saying it believes its workers benefit most from having a direct relationship with the company.
The Albany election will determine whether or not the ALU can repeat its success.
Last year, ALU organisers levelled allegations of harassment and intimidation against Amazon management, saying management forced employees to attend anti-union meetings.
Amazon reportedly spent $4.3 million last year thwarting unionisation campaigns throughout the US, and paid expert union busters $3,200 each day.
Amazon contested the decision at JFK8, charging the ALU with using coercive and deceptive tactics to influence employees. Additionally, it claimed that the regional NLRB office 'unfairly and inappropriately' affected the outcome, which the NLRB disputes.
Christian Smalls, the president of the ALU who was fired from an Amazon warehouse in 2020, described the triumph at the JFK8 facility as "a catalyst for a revolution with Amazon employees."
However, the ALU faced an early setback in May when employees at a neighbouring facility decided against joining. Out of more than 1,600 workers who were eligible to cast votes, 380 chose to unionise, while 618 not to.