A month after a nearby fulfillment center became the first in the country to vote to join a union, employees at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island overwhelmingly rejected a unionization effort.
In favor of the union there were 380 votes. The workers at the LDJ5 warehouse were able to vote on whether to join the Amazon Labor Union. There were two voided ballots. The results need to be certified by the National Labor Relations Board.
Amazon is facing a growing wave of labor organization efforts as workers seek higher pay and better treatment at the company's massive warehouses around the country In early April, staffers at a Staten Island facility known as JFK8 voted in support of the company's first U.S. union despite a high-priced opposition campaign by Amazon.
LDJ5 workers should be paid at least $30 an hour, according to the ALU. According to Amazon, starting pay at U.S. fulfillment centers is $18 an hour. Longer breaks and improved benefits were some of the demands made by the union.
Amazon has been aggressive in trying to discourage employees from organizing. Ahead of the vote, the e-commerce giant held mandatory meetings at LDJ5 where employees were required to sit through anti-union presentations and hired an influential Democratic pollster to assist with its campaign at both Staten Island warehouses as well as others.
The Covid-19 Pandemic hit the country in early 2020 and has led to a surge in worker activism. Workers have seized the moment to demand higher wages and improved benefits because of the strained labor market.
The ALU was started by Christian Smalls, the former JFK8 manager who was fired by Amazon. Smalls said he was fired for staging a protest in the early weeks of the coronaviruses epidemic to call for stronger safety measures.
The last substantial union vote at a U.S. Amazon facility took place in Delaware. A group of repair technicians voted against joining a union.
Andy Jassy, the CEO of Amazon, told employees not to join a union.
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