Amazon’s distribution center in Garner, North Carolina opened in August 2020. News & Observers hide captions via Scott Sharp/Getty Images
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Scott Sharpe/The News & Observer via Getty Images
Amazon workers in North Carolina voted against unionization as the retail giant once again won the battle with labor organizations.
About 4,300 workers in a warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, a suburb of Raleigh, were eligible to vote last week. They voted to join a grassroots coalition called Carolina Amazon United for solidarity and empowerment or for causes.
Workers voted almost 3-1 for unionization. The tally of federal labor officials was set against 829 votes and 2,447 votes, with 77 votes being challenged by either the union or the company.
Representatives of the unionization efforts did not immediately respond to NPR’s request for comment on Saturday.
The union organizer, who is a current and former worker, said he would promote higher wages, more reliable times, better safety measures and other changes. They faced a solid opposition campaign by Amazon. Amazon has long fought the effort to organize packers, delivery drivers and other employees.
The company, the second largest private employer in the United States after Walmart, benefits from employees working without union involvement, already offering better wages and perks than most of the industry. He claims that.
“We are pleased that Garner’s team was able to hear them and that they chose to maintain a direct relationship with Amazon,” said company spokesman Irene Heard. said in a statement on Saturday. “We look forward to continuing to be a great place to work together and helping our teammates build a future with us.”
In January, workers at one Amazon-owned Whole Foods location in Philadelphia voted to become the chain’s first organized store. Whole Foods has since disqualified the union’s victory on the National Labor Relations Committee because it has not had enough board members to prove its vote since federal agencies fired Democrats. I asked him to do so.
The company has been legally challenging its first union warehouse in New York, nearly three years after the historic vote. Meanwhile, the finances and internal cohesion of the startup Amazon Trade Union have deteriorated. The group has joined forces in the brotherhood of a powerful international teamstar.
Teamster has organized some of Amazon’s streaming drivers individually, but the company doesn’t even recognize this expression. In December, the union attempted to guide drivers and warehouse workers picketing multiple locations around the US, bringing more people into the union’s fold, pushing Amazon to begin negotiations for a collective defense agreement.
Amazon is also suing a November ruling by a federal labor judge who ordered a third union election (relearning) in an Alabama warehouse. In the original 2021 vote, workers overwhelmingly rejected the union. US labor officials later discovered that Amazon was illegally affecting the outcome. The results of the second election could not be called for for more than two years as the coalition and the company accused each other of violating labor laws.
Amazon workers and federal labor investigators have filed numerous complaints alleging violations of labor law and illegal union destruction tactics by the company. In fact, one of the company’s lawsuits question the very existence of the National Labor Relations Commission, claiming that its structure is unconstitutional.
Editor’s Note: Amazon is one of NPR’s latest financial supporters.
