Amazon warehouse workers await result of union vote in Staten Island

theguardian.com:

A federal labor board will on Monday count ballots cast by warehouse workers in a second Amazon union election on Staten Island in New York City.

The National Labor Relations Board is overseeing the election and expects to finish tallying the votes by Monday evening.

A separate election held last month gave a nascent group of organizers known as the Amazon Labor Union a surprise victory when workers at a different Staten Island facility voted in favor of unionizing. That was a first for Amazon in the US.

It is unclear whether the ALU can replicate its success. There are fewer workers eligible to vote this time around – about 1,500 compared with 8,300 – and turnover at the facility is high. There are also fewer organizers involved in the latest election.

The same obstacles that plagued the effort the first time, including Amazon’s aggressive anti-union tactics, are in play.

In the lead-up to the election, Amazon continued to hold mandatory meetings to persuade workers to reject the union effort, posted anti-union flyers and launched a website urging workers to “vote NO”.

“Right now, the ALU is trying to come between our relationship with you,” a post on the website reads. “They think they can do a better job advocating for you than you are doing for yourself.”

An Amazon spokesperson, Kelly Nantel, said it was employees’ choice whether or not they want to join a union. But “as a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees”.

“Our focus remains on working directly with our team to continue making Amazon a great place to work.”

A second labor win could give workers in other Amazon facilities and at other companies the motivation they need to launch similar efforts. It could also cement the power and influence