Amazon workers have overwhelmingly voted for a bid to unify North Carolina warehouses, the National Labor Relations Commission said Saturday that it was the latest set-off for labor organisations at the e-commerce giant. .
Workers at the RDU1 fulfillment center in Garner, a suburb of Raleigh, voted between 2,447 and 829 for a union with Carolina Amazonians United, an emerging union founded by warehouse workers in 2022.
Organizers of the warehouse, which employ more than 4,000 people, asked to start wages of $30 per hour. The current salary range is around $18 to $24, Amazon said. The union also called for longer lunch breaks and increased holidays.
In a statement, the cause leader said the election results were the result of Amazon's “relentless, illegal efforts that threaten us.” They didn't say whether they would challenge the outcome, but they vowed to continue trying to organize.
“We are delighted that Garner's team has been able to hear their voices and have chosen to maintain a direct relationship with Amazon,” said Irene Heard, a spokesman for Amazon.
Towards the election, the workers-led union filed accusations with the Labor Relations Commission, which accused Amazon of obstructing employees' protected union activities. The company gave priority to workers who did not support the union, according to accusations filed by Cause. Amazon also said in its submission that workers unfairly fired the union's co-founder a week before they applied for union elections in December.
Amazon refused to interfere in the election. Employees have chosen whether to join the union or not, and the company talks about unionization “openly, openly, openly and respectfully” before the vote. She said the co-founder was fired for “repeated fraudulent behavior, including making minor and racist comments to his colleagues.”
Addressing the demands expressed by the union said the company already offers a safe workplace, competitive payroll, industry-leading profits and consistent scheduling. The cause union “has no experience representing workers or their interests,” she added.
In addition to what they characterized as resistance from the company, warehouse organizers were faced with a southern environment that was historically hostile to unions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, North Carolina's union membership was 2.4% last year, the lowest in the country, far below the national average of 9.9%.
Amazon has aggressively circumvented union campaigns, including warehouses, delivery operations and grocery stores, and has stopped the negotiation process in multiple segments of its business.
In 2022, workers at a warehouse in Staten Island in New York voted to establish Amazon's first union in the United States. Currently partnering with Teamsters Union. Amazon has challenged the outcome of the election in court and refused to recognize its union or bargain. Delivery drivers who work for a third-party package distribution company that serves Amazon also installed a campaign with Teamster.
The Trump administration's move on the Labor Relations Committee (since taking office, including the change of general adviser appointed to the Biden administration, which was considered labor friendly) has further fueled employers' cracking down on organisation. You can reject labor law experts. I said.
Philadelphia workers voted in January to be linked to the United Food and Commercial Workers Union, establishing the first Union Beach Head in the Amazon-owned grocery chain. In a submission to the Labor Commission, which challenges the election, the company cited President Trump's firing of Democratic board members.
In January, Amazon said it was closing its warehouse and logistics business in Quebec, Canada. In Quebec, the union has said it will gain foothold among some Amazon workers and fire 1,700 employees.
The North Carolina election is not the first union bid to fail among Amazon warehouse workers. In 2021, workers in a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama voted against unionization, but labor officials later ruled that Amazon had illegally affected the election. The workers voted for the second time in 2022, but the results were too close to urge the Labour judge to order a third election. That vote hasn't been held yet, and Amazon has denied any fraud.
“In the end, the biggest thing we're fighting for is dignity,” said Italo Medelius Marsano, a member of the Cause Organising Committee, who works on the docks of the RDU1 ship, before the vote. “We make sure Amazon knows we are human,” he said, quoting the move's catchphrase, “I'm not a robot.”
