A month after a new union started by Amazon warehouse workers became the first to win a U.S. election in the company’s history, workers at a nearby Amazon facility voted against unionizing with the same grassroots organization.
Workers at an Amazon package sort center, known as LDJ5, voted 618 to 380 against unionizing with the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), a union founded last year by fired Amazon worker Chris Smalls and several colleagues. A victory at LDJ5 would have given the union the right to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement with Amazon at two key warehouses that play separate but complementary roles in serving Amazon customers in the critical New York City metropolitan area. That combination could have given organizers more leverage in contract negotiations with Amazon, but that advantage looks gone for now.
The loss comes a month after the historic election at a larger nearby Amazon fulfillment center called JFK8. There, the union captured 2,654 votes, while 2,131 voted against organizing. Amazon is seeking to throw out the results of that election, arguing that both the union and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which oversaw the election, acted inappropriately. The NLRB has scheduled a May 23 hearing to discuss Amazon’s objections.
(Excerpted and reprinted from Vox)
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