Staten Island Amazon workers vote to unionize

Workers at Amazon's JFK8 fulfillment center have voted to unionize. The Staten Island, NY warehouse was counted this morning and approved the formation of a union: 2,654 to 2,131. Out of a total of 8,325 voters, a total of 4,785 votes were cast.

It is a huge win for labor organizers at the retail giant, who have been fighting to unionize for 27 years. The vote came after years of reports of worker abuse. Amazon highlighted moves like its raise to a $15/hour minimum wage.

The company fought against the union drives because of fears that a single vote could lead to a cascading effect in warehouses across the country. The pro-union vote ended yesterday with a healthy lead, which has held through the second and final day of counting.

There are likely to be challenges from Amazon. The National Labor Relations Board conducted a recount by secret ballot after the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union filed a complaint. Yesterday was the day of the vote. The first vote that hangs on the fate of the challenged ballots is currently 962 to 825. The Staten Island election had 67 challenged ballots, which is 547 votes shy of closing the margin.

A leaflet is thrown away as workers make their way to cast their vote on whether or not to unionize outside of an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island. Workers waited in line for a chance to vote on whether to establish Amazon's first US labor union. The photo was taken by ED JONES.

In March 2020, employee Christian Smalls helped organize a walk out to protest working conditions at JFK8. Smalls became a leading voice in the union push after he was fired by Amazon. He was arrested in February of this year along with two other people. Smalls and the others said they were just going to deliver food.

New York City has a long, rich history of worker unions, so it's not surprising that it's currently poised to be the home of Amazon. The company invested a lot of money to fight the union. Global Strategy Group, a Democratic Party-aligned consulting firm, was hired by the company to convince workers to vote. The fight has been framed as David v. Goliath, as the company has worked to rein in grassroots efforts. In the past year, the company has spent over four million dollars on anti-union efforts.

Amazon has seven days to challenge the results.