Amazon plans to appeal the results of the election in which workers at a New York warehouse voted to organize in the Amazon Labor Union, according to a deadline extension the company submitted to the National Labor Relations Board (or NLRB) submitted. In the document, which you can read in full below, Amazon says it’s gathering evidence to show the union “threatened employees to force them to vote yes,” “voted employees and put themselves in the queues for interfered with the vote” and “threatened immigrants with loss of welfare if they didn’t vote.”
According to Kayla Blado, a spokeswoman for the NLRB, Amazon has yet to issue a definitive official objection. It has until 11:59 p.m. ET Friday, though the company has until April 22 to submit the evidence it claims to be gathering.
Amazon’s objection seemed almost inevitable. When it was revealed that workers had voted to organize by a margin of 2,654 to 2,131 workers in a landmark victory against the notoriously anti-union company, Amazon released a statement saying it was reviewing its options, which included “lodging objections based on… the NLRB’s undue and undue influence.” While the company’s main grievance appears to be with the union, its extension application mentions that it plans to object to “frivolous allegations of unfair labor practices against Amazon.”
The NLRB has sued the company for allegedly firing workers in retaliation for union activities and filed a complaint saying Amazon “threatened, monitored and interrogated” workers in the run-up to the election. She also wants to prevent the company from forcing employees to attend “captive audience” meetings where it presents anti-union talking points for those workers who are required to attend.
In response to Amazon’s objections, a lawyer for ALU told Reuters: “To say that the Amazon labor union is threatening employees is really absurd” since the union is made up of the company’s employees. Amazon did not immediately respond to The Verge’s request for comment on Thursday.