A workers’ group previously accused of mob links has filed for a union election at an Amazon facility in northern New Jersey.
The International Brotherhood of Trade Unions’ local 713 on Friday sent a letter asking for union elections at an Amazon delivery station in Bayonne, records from the National Labor Relations Board show — just weeks after a nearby New York warehouse opened the first in the country was that unionized.
The proposed Bayonne union would cover 200 workers at a Newark Bay fulfillment center that opened in 2020. NLRB spokeswoman Kayla Blado told The Post Monday that at least 30% of eligible employees have signed union cards and that the agency is now working to schedule a union election.
IBOTU is not affiliated with the Amazon Labor Union, a burgeoning group led by current and former Amazon employees that won rights earlier this month to represent 8,300 workers at a Staten Island warehouse just minutes from Bayonne.
Instead, the Long Island-based group trying to unionize the Bayonne plant describes itself as a union representing workers “across industries like warehousing, supermarket, building services, bus driving and manufacturing.”
IBOTU has also been dogged by allegations of questionable practices in the past. In 2012, federal prosecutors charged the group’s former treasurer, Robert Scalza, with being an associate of the Genovese family.
The International Brotherhood of Trade Unions has requested a union election at an Amazon plant in Bayonne, NJ. Local 713
While Scalza was working for IBOTU, US attorneys alleged in court filings that he threatened a Genoese capo from a rival union trying to unionize a Long Island chocolate factory, the New York Daily News reported.
Scalza pleaded guilty to conspiracy racketeering charges in 2014, according to the newspaper. He was reportedly sentenced to six months house arrest and ordered to give up all union work for at least three years.
He appears to have returned to the union by 2019, earning a whopping $341,000 that year as a “key worker,” according to the group’s tax forms.
Speaking to The Post Monday, IBOTU attorney Steven Kern said Scalza is no longer with the union.
“I remember the name, I know I must have done something with him in the past, like 20 years ago,” Kern said of Scalza. “So he did something wrong and pleaded guilty and got convicted or whatever and he’s not with the union.”
The effort in Bayonne, New Jersey, is not affiliated with the Amazon Labor Union, which recently won a union election at a Staten Island warehouse. REUTERS
Scalza is not the only former union leader accused of corruption.
In 2003, then-IBOTU President Peter Hasho was charged with allegedly being involved in a conspiracy to steal $350,000 from a Jersey City union welfare fund through a no-show job, the Associated Press reported. However, a jury later acquitted Hasho in the case, court records show.
Before serving as union chairman, Hasho was arrested and charged in a separate union alleged bribery scheme in 1975, the New York Times reported, although the outcome of that case is not apparent from available court archives.
According to tax returns, Hasho recently served as the union’s “pres emeritus,” taking home more than $1 million in compensation in 2018 and $810,000 in 2019, before passing away in September 2021.
For comparison, the president of the National Education Association — the largest labor union in the United States — took home less than $400,000 in 2018.
When asked if the notes of former union officials might deter potential Amazon union members, Kern said, “I can’t comment on any specific allegations. I don’t even know her.”
Amazon spokesman Paul Flaningan declined to comment.
The Bayonne union motion comes just days before workers at a second Amazon warehouse on Staten Island decide whether to join the Amazon Labor Union.
The proposed Bayonne union would include 200 workers helping deliver Amazon packages. SOPA Images/LightRocket via Getty Images
When asked if the Amazon Labor Union would be better able to represent the Bayonne plant, Kern said, “Anyone who can become a negotiating agent at an Amazon site should do so.”
“We have no guilty conscience,” he added. “We do what we can do. We didn’t take anything away from anyone.”
The Amazon Labor Union did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
News of the Bayonne union application was previously reported by journalist Jonah Furman.