Posts tagged Amazon Staten Island
A union for Amazon warehouse workers elects a new leader in wake of Teamsters affiliation
August 1, 2024 // Only 5% of the 5,312 workers employed in the warehouse voted by mail-in ballot, said Arthur Schwartz, an attorney who represents the dissident group. Spence received 137 out of 247 votes cast, Schwartz said, defeating a current ALU officer named Claudia Ashterman and another prominent organizer named Michelle Valentin.
Two years after its historic win, a divided Amazon Labor Union lurches toward a leadership election
April 9, 2024 // Smalls, a former Amazon worker who co-founded the union during the coronavirus pandemic, did not respond to multiple requests for an interview. Last year, he told the New York Times that he traveled to help raise money for the union. He also told financial news website Business Insider in December that he would not seek reelection as ALU president. Meanwhile, two other prominent organizers, Connor Spence, the union’s co-founder and former treasurer, and Michelle Valentin Nieves, a union leader who says she was pushed out of the group last year, have thrown their hats in the ring. Amazon fired Spence last year for violating a company policy that forbids workers from accessing company buildings or outdoor work areas when they’re off the clock, a policy critics say is designed to hinder organizing. He's leading the A.L.U. Democratic Reform Caucus, while Valentin Nieves is running her own independent campaign.
Biden signals support for Amazon workers’ unionization efforts: ‘Amazon, here we come’
April 8, 2022 // Speaking to thousands of labor leaders in Washington on Wednesday, Biden asserted that "unions are about, in my view, dignity and respect for people who bust their neck," noting that his White House's task force for "Worker Organization and Empowerment" was established "to make sure the choice to join a union belongs to workers alone."
Starbucks Workers Voted To Unionize In New York City Flagship Store, So Did Amazon—Is This The Resurgence Of Unions?
April 5, 2022 // The employees are joining Workers United, which is part of the Service Employees International Union. This organization has fielded inquiries from Starbucks staffers around the country. The vote is a rare one for the restaurant industry. Less than 2% of food-related workers are covered by a union. The baristas and other workers are calling for more help with staffing, better pay with set increases and training.
National Retail Federation asks Congress to investigate the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) General Counsel’s suit against Amazon.com,
April 2, 2022 // On March 17, 2022, the NLRB General Counsel filed suit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of New York seeking reinstatement of a former employee at Amazon’s Staten Island facility who was fired nearly two years ago for shouting sexually charged and profane obscenities at a female coworker over a bullhorn at their shared workplace. As seen in video evidence, this individual called his female coworker a “gutter bitch,” “ignorant and stupid,” “crack-head ass,” “crack ho,” and “queen of the swamp” and accused her of being “high” and on “fentanyl.”