The vote to unionize at a second warehouse failed to pass.
Last month, an Amazon warehouse in Staten Island, New York made history as the first such warehouse to successfully vote to unionize, establishing the Amazon Labor Union. Last week, the ALU attempted to make lightning strike twice by calling for unionization of another warehouse, located across the street from the first one. Unfortunately, Amazon fought much harder to keep this one from unionizing, and ultimately, the vote fell through.
Yesterday, a public tally of the vote was held at the National Labor Relation Board’s office in Brooklyn. Of the 1,633 eligible voters, 998 votes were counted, and of those counted votes, 618 were against unionization and 380 were in favor.
Following the vote, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said that the company is “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.”
The ALU responded on their official Twitter, saying that “The organizing will continue at this facility and beyond. The fight has just begun.”
In a tweet, the Amazon Labor Union vowed to continue its efforts. "The fight has just begun," the group wrote. https://t.co/6AJUoBpgkT
— CBS News (@CBSNews) May 3, 2022
Multiple business analysts and labor leaders have chimed in on the matter, noting the importance of unionization for the workers, as well as the importance that workers not unionize for Amazon.
“The only thing this greedy, abusive company won today is a guarantee that Amazon workers everywhere will not give up until they have a union,” Teamsters general president Sean O’Brien said in a statement.
“If it had won, things could have solidified for the union in a big way,” said John Logan, a professor of labor and employment studies at San Francisco State University. “A second defeat could have proved fatal to the company’s efforts to stop the organizing from spreading like wildfire, just as it has done at Starbucks.”