In the spring of 2022, the upstart Amazon Labor Union won the right to represent some 8,000 workers at the massive New York warehouse. This past January, the National Labor Relations Board’s Region 28 director, Cornele Overstreet, ruled that Amazon should recognize its first unionized warehouse in the U.S., rejecting the company’s bid to unravel a breakthrough union win on Staten Island. Overstreet dismissed Amazon’s allegations that labor-board officers and union organizers improperly influenced the union vote.
This decision requires Amazon to begin bargaining “in good faith” with the union. However, the company is expected to appeal the ruling before the full labor board in Washington, D.C. Labor experts say members of the board are likely to side with their regional colleagues in confirming the union’s win. The case could make its way into the courts.
“I think that’s going to take a long time to play out,” Amazon CEO Andy Jassy said at a conference in September, claiming “disturbing irregularities” in the vote.
At stake is the future of labor organizing at Amazon, where unions have struggled for a foothold as the company’s web of warehouses has ballooned, making it the U.S.’s second-largest private employer after Walmart.
Amazon Labor Union won the first union election by more than 500 votes in April 2022. Under U.S. labor law, employers are obligated to begin negotiating in good faith with a union after it wins an election and the results are certified. But the process can be beset with delays, as the employer may seek to avoid signing a first contract. According to an analysis by Bloomberg Law, it takes an average of 465 days for collective bargaining agreements to be signed between employers and their newly unionized workers.
Alina Selyukh & Giulia Heyward, NPR