Amazon Labor Union organizers hold signs outside the Amazon LDJ5 Rating Center on April 25, 2022 in New York City.
Michael M. Santiago | Getty Images
Employees at Amazon The Staten Island warehouse overwhelmingly rejected union efforts Monday, a major victory for the electronic retailer a month after the nearby fulfillment center became the first in the country to vote to join a union.
The number was 380 votes in favor of the union and 618 against it. Officials said 1,633 LDJ5 warehouse workers are eligible to vote on whether they should become part of the Amazon workers union. Two ballot papers were cancelled. The results still need formal approval by the National Labor Relations Board.
Amazon is facing a growing wave of labor organization efforts as workers seek higher salaries and better treatment at the company’s massive warehouses across the country. In early April, employees were at the Staten Island facility known as JFK8 Vote for the first American union for the companydespite an expensive opposition campaign by Amazon.
ALU called on all LDJ5 workers to receive at least $30 an hour. The average starting hourly wage at U.S. fulfillment centers is $18 an hour, according to Amazon. The guild also sought longer breaks and improved benefits, among other demands.
Amazon has been consistent and bold in trying to dissuade employees from organizing. Before the vote, the e-commerce giant held mandatory meetings at the LDJ5, where employees were asked to sit through anti-union presentations and I hired a Democrat in the polls To aid her campaign in both Staten Island and other warehouses.
Worker activism has surged across the United States since the Covid-19 pandemic hit the country in early 2020. A strained labor market has further stimulated support for unions, and workers have seized the opportunity to demand higher wages and improved benefits.
The ALU, led by former JFK8 manager Christian Smalls, started after Amazon fired Smalls for allegedly violating social distancing rules. Smalls said he was fired in retaliation for organizing a protest in the first weeks coronavirus pandemic To call for stronger safety measures.
The last time Labor organizers suffered a defeat was in March, when Amazon Workers in Bessemer, Alabama, Apparently he voted against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Consortium. However, the election is still very close to being held and hinges on several hundred contested ballot papers. As it stands, the difference narrowed from last year’s first election, the results of which were dumped after the NLRB found illegal interference by Amazon.
Before the pandemic, the last major union vote took place at an Amazon US facility in a Delaware warehouse in 2014. A group of repair technicians Vote 21 to 6. Against joining the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers.
Watch: Andy Gacy, CEO of Amazon, says it’s best for employees not to join a union