Amazon Is Seeking Unionization Revote
Amazon has alleged voter suppression, bribes and threats were used to gain the vote.
- I've been covering technology and mobile for 12 years, first as a telecommunications reporter and assistant editor at ZDNet in Australia, then as CNET's West Coast head of breaking news, and now in the Thought Leadership team.
Amazon has asked the National Labor Relations Board for a revote on its employees' decision to unionize at its Staten Island warehouse in New York.
The e-commerce giant has alleged that the NLRB's regional branch engaged in voter suppression -- including only having three voting booths for thousands of employees -- and that the Amazon Labor Union used bribes and threats to get employees to vote to unionize. Forbes earlier reported on the objections filed by Amazon .
NLRB said it has received the objections. "The NLRB is an independent federal agency that Congress has charged with enforcing the National Labor Relations Act. All NLRB enforcement actions against Amazon have been consistent with that congressional mandate," Kayla Blado, NLRB press secretary, told CNET in an emailed statement.
Amazon said its employees' voices were not heard in the vote.
"Fewer than a third of the employees at the site voted for the union, and overall turnout was unusually low," Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said in an emailed statement. "Based on the evidence we've seen so far, as set out in our objections, we believe that the actions of the NLRB and the ALU improperly suppressed and influenced the vote, and we think the election should be conducted again so that a fair and broadly representative vote can be had."
Warehouse workers in Staten Island voted last week to join the new Amazon Labor Union in a US first, with the vote coming down to 2,654 to 2,131.