Workers at the Amazon LDJ5 customer fulfillment facility in Staten Island, New York have voted against labor unionization. The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) announced the results of the election with 618 votes counted against unionization compared to 380 votes favoring unionization. Reportedly, many of the workers at this smaller Staten Island facility have part-time worker status with minimum benefits.
The vote follows the results of an election held in early April where workers at the larger JFK8 customer fulfillment facility located in Staten Island voted to establish a labor union with 55 percent of the vote, the first Amazon facility to do so. Both campaigns were spurred by the Amazon Labor Union, a grass roots effort led by Amazon exiting and former employees. Amazon has publicly indicated that it will continue efforts to formally challenge the JFK8 unionization vote.
Similar to other elections scheduled at Amazon facilities, the online platform provider reportedly has spent millions to lobby workers to reject unionization, including on-site meetings requiring mandatory attendance.
Reporting on the development, The New York Times indicated (Paid subscription or metered view) : “The growing labor organizing efforts at Amazon were dealt a blow on Monday when workers voted by a wide margin to reject joining a union at a warehouse on Staten Island, just weeks after the union won a landmark victory at a larger facility nearby.”
A spokesperson for Amazon indicated to the Times: “We’re glad that our team at LDJ5 were able to have their voices heard. We look forward to continuing to work directly together as we strive to make every day better for our employees.” Derrick Palmer, who co-founded the Amazon Labor Union, indicated that the organization would keep pushing: “There’s no way we’re going to stop or let this bring us down. It’s going to do the complete opposite. We’re going to go 10 times harder.”
In a separate action and after reporting disappointing Q1 quarterly financial results, Amazon announced this weekend that it will cut paid time off for full time employees who test positive for the Covid-19 virus. Workers will instead be granted five days of excused unpaid leave. Reportedly, workers with available sick time will be able to apply that time for Covid-19 illness.
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