Amazon warehouse workers in Albany have filed to unionize

Illustration by Alex Castro / The Verge

The National Labor Relations Board said on Tuesday that staff at an Amazon fulfillment center in New York have filed a petition for an election to unionize. The employees at Amazon's ALB1 warehouse have filed for a unit that would house around 400 workers.

More than 30% of the proposed unit would have signed union authorization cards. The National Labor Relations Board expects to verify the petition in a matter of days and arrange a formal election as a result.

The Albany workers voted to unionize at the company's JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island in April but lost a vote at the LDJ5 facility in Staten Island in May. The vote on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union was too close to call.

Andy Jassy, the company's CEO, told employees in an all-hands meeting that unions are slower and more bureaucratic.

Amazon employees have the option of joining a union or not, according to the company's spokesman. They have. Unions are not the best solution for our employees. We are focused on working with our team to make Amazon a great place to work.

The statement was added by Amazon.