On October 25, 2021, people arrive for work at the Amazon distribution center in the Staten Island borough of New York. Amazon plans to appeal the staten island, NY, union election that led to the first successful organizing effort in the company’s history. (Craig Ruttle, Associated Press)
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NEW YORK CITY — Amazon is trying to overturn the historic union victory at one of its New York City warehouses, arguing in a lawsuit filed Friday that union organizers and the National Labor Relations Board acted in a way that skews the results Has. Now she wants to repeat the election.
The e-commerce giant listed 25 objections in the filing obtained by the Associated Press, accusing organizers at the nascent Amazon Labor Union of intimidating workers into voting for the union, an allegation that a lawyer representing the group as called “obviously absurd”.
“The employees have spoken,” attorney Eric Milner said in a statement Thursday after Amazon’s originally planned objections were made public in another court filing.
“Amazon chooses to ignore this and instead engage in delaying tactics to avoid the inevitable — getting to the negotiating table and negotiating a deal,” he said.
Warehouse workers in Staten Island cast 2,654 votes — or about 55% — for a union, giving the fledgling group enough support to claim a victory last Friday.
In one objection, Amazon said organizers had “deliberately created hostile confrontations in front of eligible voters” by disrupting the company’s mandatory meetings to persuade its employees to oppose the union campaign. In a filing released earlier this month, the company said it spent about $4.2 million on employment counselors last year.
In another objection, Amazon targeted the organizers’ distribution of cannabis to workers, saying the Labor Department “cannot condone such a practice as a legitimate method of gaining support for a labor organization.” New York last year legalized recreational marijuana use for those over 21. Milner, the union’s attorney, said Amazon is grasping at straws.
Handing out cannabis “is no different than giving out free t-shirts and certainly didn’t do anything to disrupt the election,” he said.
The company also accused the organizers of not properly interviewing workers.
The retailer originally signaled it planned to contest the election results because the National Labor Relations Board filed a lawsuit in March in which the board wanted to force Amazon to reinstate a fired employee involved in the union campaign.
Amazon referenced the lawsuit in one of its objections filed Friday, saying the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board that filed the lawsuit “failed to protect the integrity and neutrality of its proceedings” and gave the impression of support by the search for the union raised reinstatement for former employee Gerald Bryson.
“Based on the evidence we have seen so far, as set out in our objections, we believe the actions of the NLRB and ALU unduly suppressed and influenced the vote and we think the election should be reconducted so that.” it is fair and a broadly representative vote can take place,” Kelly Nantel, a spokeswoman for Amazon, said in a statement Friday.
All NLRB enforcement actions against Amazon have been consistent with this congressional mandate.
–Kayla Blado, NLRB spokesperson
Bryson was fired in the early days of the pandemic after leading a protest calling on the company to do more to protect workers from COVID-19. While out of work during the protest, Bryson got into an argument with another worker and was later fired for violating Amazon’s vulgar language, according to his attorney, Frank Kearl.
The National Labor Relations Board did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Her spokeswoman Kayla Blado previously said the independent agency has been authorized by Congress to enforce the National Labor Relations Act.
“All NLRB enforcement actions against Amazon have been consistent with this congressional mandate,” she said.
In other objections, Amazon targeted how the employment agency conducted the election. It said the agency had failed to control media exposure in the election area and lacked sufficient staff and equipment, which the company said resulted in long lines and “dissuaded many employees from voting in subsequent election sessions.”
Meanwhile, both Amazon and the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, a union that has led a separate union campaign in Bessemer, Alabama, have objected to the election. The final outcome of the Alabama union ballot is yet to be seen with 416 contested ballots outstanding. Initial results show the union has lost 118 votes, with a majority of Amazon warehouse workers rejecting an offer to form a union.
The retail, wholesale and department store union, which has filed more than 20 objections, said in its filing on Thursday that its objections are “reasons to overturn the election.”
A hearing to review the contested ballots is expected to begin in the coming weeks.
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