New York union drive defeated

Amazon.com Inc. workers at a facility in New York voted not to join an upstart union only weeks after the group won a resounding victory at a warehouse across the street.

The election at the LDJ5 sorting centre in Staten Island wasn’t close, with the Amazon Labor Union garnering just 380 yes votes to 618 noes.

The defeat is a setback for the ALU, which was looking to increase its bargaining power by repeating the success of the previous vote at the JFK8 fulfilment centre. But it was welcome news for Amazon, which last week reported dour financial results and acknowledged it has too many workers now that the pandemic-related surge in online sales has slowed. The results spooked Wall Street, and sent the shares reeling.