The Amazon Labor Union, which made history in April by unionizing the first Amazon warehouse in the US, lost its latest campaign today, at a facility in Schodack, New York. Workers voted 406 to 206 against joining the union, the second loss out of ALU’s three unionization campaigns at Amazon warehouses.
The result is a setback for workers seeking more say at Amazon, which is a staunch opponent of unionization and has spent months challenging the sole successful campaign, in Staten Island.
“We’re proud of the brave workers in upstate New York who stood up in the face of a vicious anti-union campaign to challenge a trillion-dollar corporation,” ALU president Chris Smalls wrote in a statement, saying the union would continue to organize in Schodack. He claimed the vote was unfair because Amazon subjected workers to daily intimidation aimed at preventing a union win.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel welcomed the result today in her own statement. “We’re glad that our team in Albany was able to have their voices heard, and that they chose to keep the direct relationship with Amazon as we think that this is the best arrangement for both our employees and customers,” she wrote.
Today’s vote brings the tally of Amazon warehouses that have attempted to unionize to four. After winning its first election at the JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island in April, the ALU lost a second election at a smaller warehouse across the street. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union held a rerun election to represent workers in Bessemer, Alabama, this year, but the result remains too close to call.
The union defeat at the ALB1 warehouse in Schodack, near Albany, follows a week of labor unrest at Amazon, which coincided with last week’s Prime Early Access Sale. Workers at two facilities in Georgia and two in Illinois walked out over demands ranging from pay raises to protections against injury and sexual harassment. On the same day, workers in Moreno Valley, part of California’s Inland Empire logistics hub, filed for the first ALU election in California. Three days later, workers at Amazon’s nearby air shipping hub in San Bernardino went on strike, demanding wage hikes and improvements to working conditions.
The campaign defeated today has its roots in the personal history of lead organizer Heather Goodall. She took a job picking and packing items for shipment at ALB1 in February in an attempt to find out if the news she’d read about Amazon’s tough working environment was true. Her interest in workplace conditions developed after one of her sons took his own life, becoming one of a series of suicides and murder-suicides by employees of chip manufacturer GlobalFoundries, which she believes were related to a poor working environment. (GlobalFoundries has said employee health and safety is a priority and that it offered 24/7 counseling.)
Goodall soon concluded “that the rumors were true,” about Amazon’s harsh working conditions. She witnessed injuries, high turnover, and signs telling workers “No Covid pay. No excuses” in defiance of state law, she says. Ambulances are a common sight outside the warehouse, Goodall says, and one once came for her after her heart condition flared up while on shift. “When you see it on a daily or weekly basis, it becomes normalized, and people stop questioning it,” she says.
Analysis of 2020 US Occupational Safety and Health Administration data by The Washington Post and 2021 data by the Strategic Organizing Center labor coalition found that Amazon warehouse workers faced roughly twice the injury rate of those working in similar workplaces. This summer, OSHA launched probes into Amazon, investigating warehouse safety and deaths at the company.
Goodall and ALB1 workers began organizing with ALU in June and filed for an election in August. Amazon soon launched an aggressive anti-union campaign, as it had in response to previous union drives. The company papered the walls at ALB1 with “Vote no” signs, projected anti-union messages on screens throughout the warehouse, flew in staff to walk the floors and quiz workers about the union, and held meetings during which Amazon representatives delivered anti-union talking points.
The ALU responded, as it had before, by documenting and publicizing Amazon’s actions. Goodall started a GoFundMe to raise money for workers who believed they faced retaliation for organizing, including links to photos and videos of clashes with management and anti-union messaging. Amazon also called the police on Goodall and ALU members while they campaigned at ALB1, saying they were trespassing; the workers say they were exercising their legal rights to organize.
Amazon’s determined opposition to unions, high worker turnover, and sprawling warehouses have led to disagreements about the best way for workers to stand up to the company. The ALU, founded by Amazon employees, says it has a deeper understanding of the conditions and culture at Amazon, and can better relate to workers. But Goodall initially started working with the Teamsters, which as a large and established union has more resources and experience countering corporate pushback. After a disagreement over strategy, she switched to the ALU.
Amazon has also challenged the ALU’s historic victory in Staten Island, lodging complaints against the union and the US National Labor Relations Board. After a month of hearings this summer, an NLRB hearing officer recommended rejecting the company’s complaints. Nonetheless, Amazon CEO Andy Jassy has said the company is gearing up for a long fight over what he called “disturbing irregularities” in the voting process, suggesting plans to appeal to the federal courts.
Overall, Amazon appears committed to using any means possible to grind down unions, from the warehouse floor to the NLRB, and soon perhaps to the courts. Labor experts say that weak labor law in the US and an understaffed NLRB create a system ripe for exploitation by large companies. Even if Amazon knows it has little chance of winning, “the appeal is the point,” says San Francisco State University labor studies director John Logan. “What they want to do is kill the union campaign, to make the workers feel that it's futile, that Amazon will never give up in its opposition.”
