Amazon workers at a warehouse in Staten Island, New York, have voted to unionize. The decision, made by more than 2,500 workers, is a first for Amazon.
The vote was 2,654 in favor of the union, and 2,131 against, with ballots being cast in person over a five day period, starting last Friday, according to a report by AFP.
Union organizer Christian Smalls (left) celebrates with Amazon workers following the April 1, 2022, vote for the unionization of the Amazon Staten Island warehouse in New York. Amazon workers in New York voted Friday to establish the first union at the e-commerce giant, a milestone for a company that has steadfastly opposed organized labor in its massive workforce. Employees at the Staten Island JFK8 warehouse voted 2,654 to 2,131 in support of the unionizing drive, according to a tally of ballots from the National Labor Relations Board. (ANDREA RENAULT/AFP via Getty Images)
(Photo by KENA BETANCUR/AFP via Getty Images)
The workers — who package items for customer orders — will now be represented by a union started by Christian Smalls, an ex-employee who was fired from Amazon in March 2020 after organizing a protest for personal protective equipment amid the first outbreak of the Chinese coronavirus in New York.
After being fired, Smalls started the Amazon Labor Union (ALU).
In 2020, Smalls told Breitbart News that Amazon hid information about a coronavirus outbreak from employees at one of its distribution centers in New York City.
“At the beginning of March, we were unprotected,” the ex-Amazon employee said at the time. “We didn’t have any facial masks, we didn’t have any cleaning supplies. We didn’t have the right type of gloves that protect our skin.”
“My associates, my employees that I supervised were falling ill in a domino effect, one by one [with] flu-like symptoms,” he added. “Some of them were even vomiting at their stations. It was very alarming to me. I started to raise my concerns to my local HR department.”
Last year, the State of New York filed a lawsuit against Amazon alleging that the tech giant showed a “flagrant disregard” for safety in response to the coronavirus pandemic, and that the company retaliated against its employees who complained.
Moreover, Amazon warehouse workers across 20 cities filed at least 37 complaints with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) since February 2020, accusing the company of retaliation against employees who attempt to organize or form a union.
You can follow Alana Mastrangelo on Facebook and Twitter at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.
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