https://www.theregister.com/2022/09/02/alu_victory_amazon_union/ [user] [user] Sign in The Register(r) -- Biting the hand that feeds IT [magn] [burg] [burg] Topics Security Security All SecurityCyber-crimePatchesResearchCSO (X) Off-Prem Off-Prem All Off-PremEdge + IoTChannelPaaS + IaaSSaaS (X) On-Prem On-Prem All On-PremSystemsStorageNetworksHPCPersonal Tech (X) Software Software All SoftwareAI + MLApplicationsDatabasesDevOpsOSesVirtualization (X) Offbeat Offbeat All OffbeatDebatesColumnistsScienceGeek's GuideBOFHLegalBootnotesSite NewsAbout Us (X) Vendor Voice Vendor Voice Vendor Voice All Vendor VoiceAmazon Web Services (AWS) Business Transformation CofenseGoogle CloudGoogle Cloud & The FAOutsystemsProofpointRapid7 (X) Resources Resources Whitepapers Webinars Newsletters [legal] Legal Amazon fails to overturn New York City union election National Labor Relations Board says company had not met the burden of proof for its objections Richard Currie Fri 2 Sep 2022 // 13:30 UTC 17 comment bubble on white --------------------------------------------------------------------- 17 comment bubble on white # reddit Twitter Facebook linkedin WhatsApp email [https://www.theregis] Copy Amazon's attempt to rerun the election that resulted in workers unionizing at a warehouse in New York City have been shut down by the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB). Back in April, workers at the JFK8 fulfillment center in Staten Island voted to join the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) by 2,654 to 2,131, becoming the first such movement not to be crushed by the e-commerce giant. The organization is led by Christian Smalls, a former employee who was fired for leading protests over working conditions during the COVID-19 pandemic. [legal] The ALU wants Amazon to bump wages to match inflation, reinstate 20-minute breaks, and provide a private shuttle service for employees. [legal] [legal] However, the company has never recognized the union. At the time, a spokesperson said: "We're disappointed with the outcome of the election in Staten Island because we believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees. "We're evaluating our options, including filing objections based on the inappropriate and undue influence by the NLRB that we and others (including the National Retail Federation and US Chamber of Commerce) witnessed in this election." [legal] Amazon went on to file 25 objections to the election in May, accusing the NLRB's Brooklyn office (Region 29) of violating labor law by appearing to support the attempts to unionize, and claimed organizers had intimidated workers to vote, among other complaints. And yet Lisa Dunn, the NLRB attorney presiding over the matter, yesterday released documents saying: After conducting a hearing over 24 business days via the Zoom for Government platform and carefully reviewing the evidence and arguments made by the parties, I conclude that the Employer's objections should be overruled in their entirety. The Employer has not met its burden of establishing that Region 29, the Petitioner, or any third parties have engaged in objectionable conduct affecting the results of the election. * After historic win, Amazon workers at another NYC warehouse reject unionization * Amazon to spend 11 days of annual profit developing robot warehouse workers * Amazon internal chat app that censored talk of unions and ethics may 'never launch at all' * Amazon warehouse workers in New York unionize in historic win against web giant The ALU said in a statement: "While we are pleased with her findings, the Amazon workers in the ALU understand that this is just the beginning of a much longer fight. Amazon's abuse of the legal process is simply a stalling tactic that is meant to delay our negotiations and cause workers to lose faith in the process." Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel told The Register: "While we're still reviewing the decision, we strongly disagree with the conclusion and intend to appeal. As we showed throughout the hearing with dozens of witnesses and hundreds of pages of documents, both the NLRB and the ALU improperly influenced the outcome of the election and we don't believe it represents what the majority of our team wants." Other attempts to unionize among Amazon workers have fallen through. Warehouse staff represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in Bessemer, Alabama, lost an election held last April. After that union filed objections to the NLRB, claiming Amazon illegally interfered with the vote and intimidated workers, the group was granted another opportunity to run the election in March, which failed a second time. [legal] Likewise, another Staten Island warehouse, LDJ5, voted against joining the ALU just a month after its historic win at JFK8. Amazon's outward attitude toward unions jars with what the company is saying internally. In June, internal research from 2021 leaked, revealing that Amazon is on track to "deplete the available labor supply in the US network by 2024" if it continues business as usual. The research noted that the labor pool grows by 7 percent for every dollar added to the minimum wage - so maybe allowing workers to unionize and actually acting upon their collective concerns might not be such a terrible idea. If, that is, Amazon wishes to keep sending out those smiley boxes with next-day delivery long into the future. (r) Get our Tech Resources # Share reddit Twitter Facebook linkedin WhatsApp email [https://www.theregis] Copy 17 Comments Similar topics * Amazon * National Labor Relations Board * New York City * Trade Union Broader topics * Employment * Federal government of the United States * Jeff Bezos Narrower topics * AWS * Ebook * Kindle Corrections Send us news --------------------------------------------------------------------- Other stories you might like EA shares volatile on the back of unconfirmed rumor of Amazon bid Somebody set us up the bomb Personal Tech26 Aug 2022 | 9 More datacenters coming to Ireland, despite energy concerns South Dublin County Council ban on buildouts set to be overturned by government PaaS + IaaS15 Aug 2022 | 34 AWS takes a shot at the private 5G network Well, more like 4G LTE right now, and you'll probably need someone to put up the radio Networks12 Aug 2022 | 1 Containers make sense for software, but what do they mean for storage? 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