Amazon workers’ union vote set
March vote to coincide with do-over at another warehouse
NEW YORK — Amazon and a fledgling union of workers at its Staten Island warehouse agreed to terms of an election for late March, setting the stage for two major elections at Amazon warehouses at the same time.
The election, which will be held in-person, is scheduled for between March 25-30, the National Labor Relations Board said Thursday. The ballot count will be conducted on March 31. An independent and fledgling group called the Amazon Labor Union is spearheading the push.
Christian Smalls, a former Amazon employee in Staten Island who is heading the organizing effort there, tweeted a screenshot of a text message Amazon sent workers at the facility on Wednesday with the same dates. The message urged workers to “vote NO.”
The agency determined in late January that the new union in Staten Island, called Amazon Labor Union, had gathered enough signatures to show there was sufficient interest in holding an election. Amazon and the union reached an agreement over the logistics of the vote just before a hearing was set to start Wednesday morning.
The agency confirmed that a tentative settlement had been reached but did not provide details.
“It’s up to the workers now,” Smalls said. “We have the momentum. I have seen a very positive shift since we filed, and we are just hoping that we can keep that going.”
Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said the company remained skeptical that there were enough “legitimate signatures” to support the election petition. She added that after the agency determined the election could proceed, “we want our employees to have their voices heard as soon as possible.”
“Our employees have always had a choice of whether or not to join a union,” she added, “and our focus remains on working directly with our team to make Amazon a great place to work.”
The timing of the vote coincides with an election at Amazon’s warehouse in
Bessemer, Ala., outside Birmingham.
Mail-in ballots for that election — a do-over after the National Labor Relations Board threw out a previous vote because of what it said was Amazon’s inappropriate interference — have gone out to workers and are due back by March 25. The labor board has said it will start counting those ballots March 28.
If either group is successful, it would mark the first unionized Amazon facility in the U.S. The elections will also once again put a spotlight back on Amazon and how it treats its workers. Pro-union warehouse workers have complained of long shifts and little time to take breaks. Amazon is the nation’s second largest private employer behind Walmart.
UNION PUSH AT APPLE
Separately, employees at several Apple Stores across the country are quietly working to unionize, according to people familiar with the efforts, as growing dissent among hourly workers threatens to disrupt one of the most stolid tech giants.
Groups at at least two Apple retail stores are backed by major national unions and are preparing to file paperwork with the labor relations board in the near future, said the people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss confidential plans. At least a half dozen more locations are at less-advanced stages in the unionization process, the sources say.
Apple has more than 500 retail locations around the world and more than 270 in the United States, according to its website. It employs more than 65,000 retail workers. Sales through Apple retail stores and the Apple website made up 36 percent of the company’s $366 billion in total revenue in the 2021 fiscal year, according to Securities and Exchange Commission filings.
Apple has seen astonishing revenue growth in recent years, bringing in $378 billion in the last calendar year, compared with $240 billion in 2017. Its astronomical cash flow has allowed the company to spend tens of billions a year in stock buybacks and dividends for investors, buoying its share price.
Retail employees interviewed by The Washington Post say they haven’t shared in the company’s gains. Apple retail employees can earn anywhere from $17 to more than $30 per hour, depending on their market and position, and receive between $1,000 and around $2,000 in stock, they said. But those wages have not kept up with inflation over the years, they say, which means retail employees are making less as they sell more Apple products.