Amazon Faces Unionization Battle in Staten Island

An Amazon spokeswoman said the company is skeptical that the union has obtained enough legitimate signatures and is seeking to understand how the signatures were verified.

“We poured our blood, sweat and tears into this campaign, and this shows when we come together, we can do anything,” Chris Smalls, a former Amazon employee leading the union, said Wednesday.

A federal hearing is scheduled for Feb. 16 to work out parameters for an election, according to the NLRB.

Amazon, in the coming months, also faces a vote to unionize at a facility in Bessemer, Ala., after a federal labor official in November found the company violated labor law during an election held at the site a year ago, a charge Amazon has denied. The NLRB this month said the new election will be held by mail, with ballots being sent to employees on Feb. 4. Voters will have almost two months to submit their ballots, with the vote count scheduled to start March 28.

The green light to move to a vote in New York comes after the Amazon Labor Union in November withdrew its first petition with the labor board after failing to achieve enough support. The group at first sought to unionize four Amazon facilities in Staten Island but shifted its focus to the largest center there after the failed effort to reach enough backing across several sites.

The union said it gathered more than 2,500 employee signatures before refiling its application for a unionization vote. Amazon said the Staten Island fulfillment center hosts about 6,000 workers.

Mr. Smalls, who once worked at the center, has been campaigning for months outside of the facility. The former employee has sought company policy changes around Covid-19 worker leave, break times and work pace requirements.

The Staten Island facility is one of Amazon’s largest and most recognized sites. It serves the greater New York area and has long been a hub where workers have organized. In 2018, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union attempted to rally unionization support at the facility as part of broader labor pressure that surrounded the company in New York then. The RWDSU was among a group of critics at the heart of a fierce backlash when Amazon announced plans to locate a part of a second headquarters in New York City in late 2018. Amazon eventually nixed its headquarters plans in the city and the unionization effort by the RWDSU in Staten Island fizzled.

In 2020, Amazon workers held a walkout at the warehouse during a run of protests related to employee complaints about working conditions at the start of the Covid-19 pandemic. Amazon fired Mr. Smalls then for violating company rules related to social distancing, though Mr. Small contends he was terminated for organizing workers. Mr. Smalls has since become the de facto face of Amazon organizing, holding regular protests outside of the Staten Island center and even at a home of company founder

Jeff Bezos.

Write to Sebastian Herrera at [email protected]