Staten Island Amazon warehouse to hold in-person union election next month, organizer says
Labor organizer Christian Smalls says the election will be held March 25-30
E-commerce giant Amazon will face a union election next month at one of its Staten Island facilitates.
The U.S. National Labor Relations Board told FOX Business that "parties in the union election at the JFK8 Amazon warehouse in Staten Island have tentatively reached a stipulated election agreement."
The labor board gave no further details regarding the election aside from the fact that the two parties are "still in discussion."
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Christian Smalls, a former Amazon employee, tweeted that the election will be held March 25-30. He further noted that the election will be in-person rather than mail-in ballots.
Meanwhile, Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told FOX Business that the company looks forward to having its employees’ voices heard.
"Our focus remains on working directly with our team to make Amazon a great place to work," Nantel said.
Last month, employees at JFK8, one of two warehouses in the area pushing to unionize, "reached a sufficient showing of interest" to hold a union election, the U.S. National Labor Relations Board said.
STATEN ISLAND AMAZON WAREHOUSE GAINS ENOUGH SUPPORT FOR UNION ELECTION, LABOR BOARD SAYS
Unions need to garner support from at least 30% of workers who are eligible to vote in order to hold an official election under the supervision of the U.S. National Labor Relations Board, according to the agency's policies.
This came after the workers withdrew their petition to unionize in November after running into snags over the number of current employees who had signed on.
| Ticker | Security | Last | Change | Change % |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| AMZN | AMAZON.COM INC. | 179.17 | -2.11 | -1.16% |
This time around, Amazon had questioned whether the union drive had enough backing even after the labor union confirmed the warehouse met the threshold and said it was seeking to understand how the "how these signatures were verified," Nantel previously said.
She argued that the turn of events in the fall showed that most workers at the Staten Island warehouse don’t want to unionize.
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Meanwhile, mail ballot voting is underway at the Bessemer, Alabama, facility, marking its second election.
The NLRB ordered a new election after saying the company destroyed trust in the first election by putting a mailbox at the employee entrance — a move the board said gave a false impression that the company was conducting the mail-in vote. Amazon maintained it was trying to make voting easier.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
This story has been updated to include comment from Amazon
