Union soon on Amazon? The suspense of continues in the United States

Voting began on Thursday for the formation of a union at two US Amazon warehouses. If one of the two sites wins “yes”, this is the first time for e – commerce in the United States.

Bad start in Alabama, still possible in New York: Counting of votes on unionization at two Amazon warehouses on Amazon began Thursday, but the final results are not yet known. This is the first time in the United States that an e-commerce company has been founded in 1994, having won a “yes” on one of two logistics platforms.

On Staten Island, a New York neighborhood where JFK8 warehouse workers voted in person, Thursday night’s vote was “yes” with 1,518 votes to 1,154. The count will close tomorrow, an official said.

Christian Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), said a small group of current and former Amazon employees set aside several months to collect at least 30% of signatures. Warehouse staff to organize the poll. He left the building quickly between two rounds of voting, saying he was “not surprised” to be in the “yes” lead this time.

Towards failure in Alabama

In Bessemer (Alabama), on the other hand, the National Association of Distributors, which the workers wanted to join, caused a second controversial failure a year ago. Over the state. On Thursday evening, “No” took the lead with 993 votes, against which there were 875 “yes” but 416 “controversial” ballots, which will determine the outcome. In the coming weeks, an inquiry will have to decide whether or not to open these bulletins and take them into account. Then there may be other legal solutions.

This second poll was commissioned by the United States Labor Rights Agency (NLRB), which found that Amazon violated the rules during its first attempt at Bessemer last year. The RWDSU union actually accused the group of “intimidation and interference,” and the NLRB ruled that several objections were acceptable.

Whatever happens, Stuart Appalbaum, head of RWDSU, launched a “movement” in Bessemer last year that sparked other Amazon warehouses, including Staten Island, but not Starbucks. Employees of these two cafes voted in December to form a union, the first of its kind in the United States to be directly managed by a chain. More than 150 Starbucks employees have demanded that the ballot be regulated.

Jeff Bezos “Must Come Back To Earth”

Amazon, one of the largest employers in the United States, is a multinational corporation with a net worth of over $ 30 billion by 2021, and has so far been able to thwart efforts to mobilize workers in the country. But efforts are on the rise. On the other side of the street from the JFK8 warehouse, about 1,500 employees of a sorting center called LDJ5 are being called to vote for or against the creation of another ALU branch from April 25 to 29.

In Bessemer on Staten Island, workers were invited by their hierarchy to several mandatory meetings before the vote to present the union’s grievances. Officially, the company respects workers’ rights to unionize, but wants a direct relationship with them. He did not immediately respond to AFP’s request.

“It’s time for Jeff Bezos to come to Earth and address the real issues that his employees face every day in his warehouses across the country,” Stuart Appalbaum told a news conference. Amazon. He reiterated that the Seattle group was prepared to “use unlimited resources to prevent the formation of unions at any cost.” In all, 2,284 out of 6,153 eligible employees cast their ballots for this second postal vote, a lower turnout than a year ago.

Large number of resignations

But “Amazon has an employee revenue rate of 150% per year,” said Stuart Appalbaum, citing a New York Times survey. “Thousands of people who worked on Amazon in January, those who were eligible to vote, walked out or were fired in March,” he continued. “They’re tired of working in dangerous situations. Thousands of Amazon employees are voting to resign.”