Amazon fails to overturn New York warehouse’s attempt to unionize
Christopher Hutton
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Amazon officials could not convince labor regulators to overturn the unionization of the company’s Staten Island warehouse, a significant step toward the union’s recognition.
Cornele Overstreet, a regional director with the National Labor Relations Board, declared on Tuesday that the Big Tech retail giant could not provide sufficient proof of its claims that there had been “inappropriate and undue influence” from the NLRB in the union’s formation.
“We beat Amazon fair and square now is time to sign a CONTRACT!” tweeted Christian Smalls, president of the Staten Island warehouse union. “Come to the table [Amazon CEO Andy Jassy].”
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A majority of workers at the Staten Island warehouse voted in favor of unionization in April. U.S. labor law requires that a company begin negotiating in good faith with a union after it wins an election and the results are verified.
Amazon intends to appeal the decision in federal court. “As we’ve said since the beginning, we don’t believe this election process was fair, legitimate, or representative of the majority of what our team wants,” Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel told CNBC.
Jassy himself has said during a public appearance that there were a “lot of irregularities” in the union drive. “I think that it’s going to work its way through the NLRB,” the Amazon CEO said. “It’s probably unlikely the NLRB is going to rule against itself, and that has a real chance to end up in federal court.”
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Subsequent unionization attempts have struggled since the Staten Island success. A May vote at a nearby New York facility ended with the majority voting against it.