Vote counting will begin on Thursday in a union election at an Amazon (AMZN) warehouse in Staten Island, New York, where a crowd-funded, worker-led labor campaign has pushed the e-commerce giant to the brink of the first union in its 28-year history.
The election could intensify a nationwide surge of organizing across major companies like Starbucks (SBUX) and Disney (DIS), fueling workers emboldened by a tight labor market but frustrated with paychecks diminished by skyrocketing inflation.
The 6,000-person Staten Island warehouse marks the second site of a union election among a large group of Amazon warehouse workers, arriving roughly one year after the overwhelming defeat of a labor drive at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. A federal agency later nullified those results, ruling that Amazon had illegally interfered; the tallying of ballots in a revote at the warehouse in Bessemer also began this week.
Chris Smalls, the leader of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), voiced optimism about the potential for a victory at the Staten Island facility, saying workers are fed up with the company’s grueling demands, lack of safety precautions, and aggressive union-busting campaign. Plus, the central role played by workers in ALU has helped the union win the trust of employees, he said.
Labor experts acknowledged the significance of a potential victory at the nation’s second-largest employer, but cautioned that the bottomless resources and anti-union messaging of a corporate giant like Amazon make the organizing drive a difficult feat.
"A win is potentially world-changing," says Erik Loomis, a labor historian and professor at the University of Rhode Island. "It would set a precedent that there is a big demand out there to organize this new economy."
The election at Amazon coincides with a nationwide wave of organizing. Starbucks workers in recent months have unionized nine stores, with more likely to come as over 100 stores across more than 25 states have filed for union elections; and employees at Disney captured attention last week with a walkout to protest the company's posture toward a controversial Florida law.
For its part, Amazon opposes the union drive, questioning the competence of the ALU and telling workers that a labor organization would bring onerous dues payments.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel previously told Yahoo Finance the company eagerly awaits the results of this week's union elections: “We look forward to having our employees’ voices heard. Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”
The union drive on Staten Island emerged from an escalation in workers organizing at Amazon that coincided with the COVID-19 pandemic, which drove record sales for the e-commerce giant but exposed some of its warehouse employees to the potentially lethal virus.
Smalls, who was fired from his Staten Island warehouse job in March 2021, the same day he participated in a walkout, led a series of protests against the company before launching the union campaign in May of last year.
FILE - Chris Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union, joins supporters at the Amazon distribution center in the Staten Island borough of New York, Monday, Oct. 25, 2021, as he holds "Authorization of Representation" forms that were earlier delivered to the National Labor Relations Board in New York. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle, File) ·ASSOCIATED PRESS
Grievances voiced by Amazon workers on Staten Island resembled those made by warehouse employees at the company for years. Workers say they've endured grueling and dangerous conditions enforced by digital devices that track them every minute. Some workers also say these devices fuel high turnover as the company fires employees who fail to keep up with performance quotas.
"The working conditions, COVID, the lack of transparency from the company — all of these things matter," Smalls said.
Nantel, the Amazon spokesperson, emphasized the company's commitment to worker safety in a statement to Yahoo Finance: “The safety and well-being of our employees is always a top priority. We recognize that helping employees stay safe in physical roles takes a lot of focus and investment, which is why we’re investing hundreds of millions in safety in many different ways."
"Like most companies, we have performance expectations for all our employees," the statement continues. "When setting those expectations, we take into account things like time in role, experience and their safety and well-being. We support people who are not performing to the levels expected with dedicated coaching to help them improve.”
Derrick Palmer, a warehouse worker on Staten Island who voted "yes" and helped organize coworkers, said a union would protect workers from firings and give them an advocate at the facility.
"If you have a union in place, that secures your job," he said. "Also, right now there's no voice for workers — that's where we come in."
'Employees’ choice'
Smalls said he learned from the difficulties that the Bessemer union campaign encountered last year ahead of its defeat by a margin of more than 2-to-1. He contrasts the organizing drive on Staten Island, which is led by current and former employees, with the one taken up by Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) organizers in Bessemer. Amazon workers are more likely to trust union advocates who share their experiences, Smalls previously told Yahoo Finance: "When you say we are actually workers, it resonates differently."
Though ALU has pursued a strategy that eschews affiliation with established unions, major labor organizations have supported the effort. "I hear the same complaints and concerns form Staten Island that I hear in Bessemer," said RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum. "The campaigns may have been conducted in different ways but the underlying motivations are the same."
In mandatory meetings with workers and messaging, Amazon has sought to depict the ALU as incompetent and unprofessional. At an anti-union meeting at the warehouse in November, an Amazon official described the ALU as "a newly formed group that wants to represent workers at all four Staten Island campuses even though it has no experience," according to an audio recording obtained by Vice.
“It’s our employees’ choice whether or not to join a union," Nantel, the Amazon spokesperson, said. "It always has been. If the union vote passes, it will impact everyone at the site which is why we host regular informational sessions and provide employees the opportunity to ask questions and learn about what this could mean for them and their day-to-day life working at Amazon.”
People walk past letters representing Amazon Labor Union adorning a fence adjacent to the Amazon distribution center in the Staten Island borough of New York Monday, Oct. 25, 2021. The National Labor Relations Board said there was sufficient interest to form a union at the Amazon distribution center, after union organizers on Monday delivered hundreds of signatures to the agency — a key step in authorizing a vote that could establish the first union at the nation's largest online retailer. (AP Photo/Craig Ruttle) ·ASSOCIATED PRESS
There are some Amazon workers who will may vote "no."
Natalie Monarrez, a warehouse worker on Staten Island who voted "no" and formerly played an active role in the ALU for several months, said Amazon criticizes the ALU in bad faith but its objections are well-founded. Monarrez said she she witnessed poor management at the ALU that sidelined women and older employees.
"I no longer have the confidence in them to run this in a professional way or an effective way, unfortunately," she said.
Smalls rebukes concern about lack of experience at the ALU, noting that the company draws on union professionals who contribute in a pro-bono capacity, such as labor attorney Seth Goldstein, who works for The Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU).
Regardless of its outcome, the union election on Staten Island signals a shift in worker organizing nationwide, as evidenced by the wave of unionization at Starbucks and the walkout at Disney, said Joshua Freeman, a professor emeritus of labor history at Queens College at the City University of New York.
"The very fact that these struggles are occurring at brand names everyone knows — that hasn’t happened in recent years," he says. "It raises possibilities in people's minds that they might not have thought about. Everything can change quickly."
Max Zahn is a reporter for Yahoo Finance. Find him on twitter @MaxZahn_.
