Posts tagged Amazon Labor Union
California Amazon workers withdraw petition for union vote after New York defeat
October 27, 2022 // Six months after the grassroots Amazon Labor Union scored a historic victory by becoming the first to unionize one of the tech giant’s US facilities, it now appears to be grappling with setbacks and delays. Workers at a California Amazon facility withdrew their petition late last week to unionize with the ALU, just days after the labor group failed to win enough votes to unionize an Amazon facility in upstate New York. Kayla Blado, a spokesperson for the National Labor Relations Board, confirmed to CNN Business on Tuesday that the petition for a union election at the ONT8 facility in Moreno Valley, California, had been withdrawn.
Workers Should Be Able to Hear from Both Sides Before Union Votes
October 27, 2022 // To labor activists such “captive audience” mandatory meetings constitute union-busting. National Labor Relations Board General Counsel Jennifer Abruzzo has asked the full board to outlaw the practice. (The board has thus far not acted on her request.) Congressional Democrats have tried to get rid of them too. The pro-union Protecting the Right to Organize Act would prohibit companies from making the meetings mandatory. The legislation has stalled in the Senate. There is no good reason why managers shouldn’t be able to make a pitch to workers just like union activists. Collective bargaining is—or at least ought to be—the workers’ choice. They should be able to hear from all sides before they decide.
Amazon workers reject union bid in upstate New York
October 19, 2022 // Warehouse workers near Albany cast 406 votes out of the 612 ballots counted — or about 66% — against the Amazon Labor Union, giving the company enough support to push back the fledgling group composed of former and current Amazon workers. According to the National Labor Relations Board, which is responsible for overseeing the election, 206 workers — or 33.6% — voted in favor of joining the union. The agency said 949 employees were eligible to vote, and the 31 additional ballots that were challenged by either Amazon or the union were not enough to sway the outcome.
Labor agency tallies votes in another Amazon union election
October 18, 2022 // This will be the fourth union election at an Amazon warehouse this year, and the third one led by the Amazon Labor Union. The upstart group secured an unexpected win in April at a company warehouse on Staten Island but was stung by a loss shortly thereafter at another facility nearby. A union election in Alabama, led by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union at a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, remains too close to call. Amazon has been trying to undo the ALU's lone victory, filing more than two dozen objections to the election and seeking a redo vote. Last month, a federal labor official concluded the union should be certified as a bargaining representative for the warehouse. Amazon, which hasn't recognized the union, said it intends to appeal the decision. And CEO Andy Jassy has also signaled the company could take the case to federal court. ALU organizers say they’re focused on petitioning for more elections and pressuring Amazon to negotiate a contract at the facility that voted to unionize. Experts note a win in Schodack — located near one of the most unionized metro areas in the country, according to Unionstats.com — would offer the group more leverage and a chance to demonstrate its prior win wasn’t a one-off.
Amazon suspends at least 50 workers after fire protest
October 10, 2022 // Amazon has suspended at least 50 warehouse employees who refused to work their shifts following a trash compactor fire at one of its New York facilities, according to union organizers. The company suspended the workers, with pay, on Tuesday, a day after the fire disrupted operations at the Staten Island warehouse that voted to unionize earlier this year. Derrick Palmer, the vice president of the Amazon Labor Union, said day-shift workers were sent home with pay due to the fire, which began late afternoon Monday. But night-shift employees, who were just coming in for their shift were told to remain in a break area until management figured out the situation, he said.
Teamsters union launches new division for Amazon employees
September 8, 2022 // Teamsters' plans to create a company-specific division for Amazon, the second-largest U.S. private employer, were laid out last year. "Our new division affords a nationwide network of resources to all Amazon workers, behind the wheel of any truck or hard at work in any facility, to strategize with the union, mobilize in their communities, and succeed together," Teamsters General President Sean O'Brien said in a statement. Teamsters, which has 1.2 million members, appointed Randy Korgan as director of the new Amazon division.
‘Retaliation Fund’: NY Amazon Workers Hoping To Unionize Start GoFundMe
August 29, 2022 // Employees at an Amazon fulfillment center in New York who are trying to unionize have launched a GoFundMe campaign to combat what they describe as retaliation from management.
Amazon Hub in Newark Is Canceled After Unions and Local Groups Object
July 11, 2022 // “Unfortunately, the Port Authority and Amazon have been unable to reach an agreement on final lease terms and mutually concluded that further negotiations will not resolve the outstanding issues,” Huntley Lawrence, the Port Authority’s chief operating officer, said in a statement on Thursday. Advocacy groups and unions involved had said they could not support the lease unless Amazon made a set of concessions that included labor agreements and a zero-emissions benchmark at the facility. Make the Road New Jersey, Kim Gaddy, South Ward Environmental Alliance, Ms. Cullinane, Ms. Gaddy, airport cargo center,
NLRB’s Top Prosecutor Seeks Big Changes, Faces Uphill Battle
June 28, 2022 // Abruzzo has signaled it’s one of the many decisions she intends to undo from the Trump era, when cases were spearheaded by her predecessor Peter Robb, who was widely seen by organized labor and Democrats as favoring employers. Biden later fired Robb. “The hypocrisy is off the charts when you think about the employee rights,” Nix said. “When she gets done with the job, she ought to apply for the lobbyist job at the AFL-CIO, because she’s going even farther than union officials have even imagined.” John Logan, San Francisco State University, pro-union experts,
AFL-CIO unveils plan to grow but some union leaders underwhelmed
June 17, 2022 // Shuler announced the creation of the Center for Transformational Organizing, a group of strategists, organizers and researcher who will focus on how to unionize new-economy companies. “We have a visionary way forward,” Shuler said. D Taylor, Mark Dimondstein,