Employees at an The Staten Island Amazon warehouse has voted against unionization, marking the first loss for the fledgling worker-led Amazon Labor Union (ALU). When the count ended Monday, workers at the LDJ5 sorting center had voted 618 to 380 against union representation. The defeat marks a major disappointment for the ALU, which has had high momentum since its first win last month. The ALU says it will contest the results and call for new elections.
As the company solidified its lead in the number of votes, the ALU tweetedRegardless of the outcome of the election, workers are uniting for change at LDJ5, JFK8 and around the world. Mega-corporations continue to spend millions on union-breaking + fear tactics and we continue to organize for a society that is not based on exploitation and greed.”
After the ALU’s stunning victory at the JFK8 fulfillment center across the street in April, defying Amazon, the company kicked its heavy-handed anti-union campaign into even higher gear, according to employees.
“We are pleased that our team at LDJ5 has been able to make their voices heard,” Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in an emailed statement. “We look forward to working together directly as we strive to make every day better for our employees.”
According to organizers, all of JFK8’s anti-union counselors walked across the street to LDJ5, which has a workforce of 1,600, or less than a fifth that of JFK8. Amazon used common tactics such as mandated anti-union or “caught audience” meetings, one-on-one conversations, social media ads, mailers, signage, texts, and in-app messaging through its internal A to Z app. company. In addition to these measures, the union says the company prevented workers from putting up a pro-union banner in the cafeteria, which they had allowed at JFK8.
The company has also hired at least one anti-union adviser as an Amazon employee, said Seth Goldstein, a lawyer representing the ALU. This allowed them to become engrossed in searching the floors, says an LDJ5 employee who prefers to use the pseudonym Maria for fear of retaliation. “It’s a bit like The art of war by Sun Tzu,” she says. “One of his methods is to infiltrate, pretend to be part of the group, then divide and rule. They do.” Employment consultants must submit paperwork to the Department of Labor stating their benefits, although they are often filed after elections, too late for voters to learn the details of their employers’ arrangements with these companies. Last year, Amazon spent $4.3 million on anti-union advisers, according to federal documents.
Amazon gave anti-union consultants free rein in the warehouse during shifts, but cracked down on workers promoting the union while on the job. Goldstein says an employee was written up because supervisors overheard her talking about the union during working hours. This banned campaigns to before and after services, lunchtime and a 15-minute break. “We’re tired, but we’ll just keep it up. We are committed,” Maria said during the election last week. “We’re basically running on coffee, fumes and morale right now.”
