Amazon Workers In New York Close To Forming Historic Union After Key Vote; Ala. Vote Pending

[appalachiablue]

- The Guardian, March 31, 2022. - Elsewhere, a unionization vote by Alabama workers is pending as hundreds of votes were challenged. -

Amazon workers in New York are close to voting to form a union – a major win for labor activists who have failed in previous efforts to organize at the tech giant that is now the second largest private employer in the US. Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island will find out on Friday whether or not they want to form a union, Amazon’s first in the US where it now employs over one million people. The vote count began on Thursday afternoon. It is unclear when the results will be revealed, but the union is currently ahead after the first day of counting by 364 votes, 1,518 votes in favor to 1,154 against. Counting is set to resume on Friday.

The count for a separate worker organizing effort began simultaneously on Thursday in Alabama, where the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWSU) faces a tough challenge in a rerun election to unionize Amazon workers in the city of Bessemer. The union said that the election had a turnout rate of about 39%, with only 2,375 of the nearly 6,100 eligible workers voting through mail-in ballots. Amazon provides the list of eligible workers to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which oversees the process. The union said that the election had a turnout rate of about 39%, with only 2,375 of the nearly 6,100 eligible workers voting through mail-in ballots. Amazon provides the list of eligible workers to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), which oversees the process.

Later in the afternoon, the Alabama count concluded with 993 votes against unionizing, versus 875 in favor – but, crucially, with hundreds of ballots that had been challenged and therefore not yet counted for either side still remaining to be addressed. According to the NLRB, there are currently 416 challenged ballots, which could affect the election outcome if the NLRB regional director decides to open and count any of the challenged ballots pending a hearing on the challenges that has yet to be scheduled.

“We don’t know what the final result will be, that will be determined by the final ballots,” said Stuart Appelbaum, RWDSU president, in a press conference after the ballot count. “Regardless of the final outcome, workers here have shown what is possible. They have helped ignite a movement.”...

- More, https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/mar/31/amazon-vote-union-elections-new-york-alabama
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https://www.cnet.com/tech/services-and-software/amazon-labor-union-ahead-in-ny-election-alabama-warehouse-workers-vote-no/

[LetMyPeopleVote]

1. Meet Chris Smalls, the man who organized Amazon workers in New York

This man is amazing

Link to tweet

NEW YORK — Chris Smalls emerged from the office of a federal regulator on Friday, clad in a red sweatshirt and Yankees hat, and triumphantly popped a bottle of champagne.

The fired Amazon worker and former rapper had done what no one had yet managed in the United States: organized a group of Amazon warehouse workers to get a successful vote to unionize......

It was a momentous moment — not only had Amazon workers voted to join a union but also they voted to join the independent effort organized by Smalls. The Amazon Labor Union, which Smalls formed after he was fired from the company, is not backed by any national union with a depth of resources and connections. Instead, it’s made up almost entirely of current and former Amazon workers with an upstart mentality and an inside view into how Amazon operates.

“We had over 20 barbecues, giving out food every single week, every single day, whether it was pizza, chicken, pasta, home-cooked. We all contributed giving out books, literature, giving out free weed because it’s legal,” he said, laughing, on Friday outside the National Labor Relations Board office. “We did whatever it took to connect with those workers to make their daily lives a just a little bit easier, a little bit less stressful.”

This man did a great job in getting this union vote through