Labor unions haven’t had this much success in decades after years of failed organizing efforts and a long, steady decline in the number of private-sector workers represented by unions, two grassroots upstart groups have scored recent victories at two of the nation’s largest employers, Amazon, and Starbucks. “I think it’s very significant, even though it’s a small percentage of the workforce so far,” said Alexander Colvin, dean of Cornell University’s Industrial and Labor Relations School.
“I do think that’s a real shift we’re seeing. The outline from the National Labor Relations Board reports that from October last year many petitions were filed at the agency seeking union representation.”
The two victories Amazon and Starbucks are important to union organizing efforts. A sentiment which was echoed by Chris Smalls, who went from fired Amazon employee to the leader of the Amazon Labor Union, has recently became the first union to win a representation vote at one of Amazon’s facilities.
It has been one week after Amazon workers at a New York City warehouse made history by voting to form a union, the tech giant is calling for a do-over election in filing Friday that lays out 25 objections that form the basis of its appeal. In its filing to the National Labor Relations Board, Amazon claims that the independent federal agency’s regional office oversaw the election at its Staten Island facility, known as JFK8, which was termed as unfairly and inappropriately which facilitated the Amazon Labor Union’s victory.
This agency is claimed to be using the artificially reduced number of employees in the voting unit to calculate whether ALU had garnered enough support to even hold an election. They also claim that the agency delayed investigating what it calls “frivolous” unfair labor practice charges that it says were “exploited” by the union. And it alleges that the agency failed to properly staff the polls during the election, which ultimately “produced chaos and hours-long lines to vote on the first polling day, discouraging other employees from voting.”
To overturn the election, Amazon would have to meet a high bar, proving not only that misconduct occurred but that the problems were so widespread that they tainted the entire vote, Wilma Liebman, a former head of the National Labor Relations Board, explained. But no matter the outcome, or whether the new group succeeds in negotiating a contract, the company has a larger question to answer. ` The list of workers’ grievances with the company is just so long. The battle over the treatment of workers inside Amazon’s facilities is widely viewed as central to the future of work in the United States. The company is the nation’s second-largest private employer and is known for its heavy emphasis on automation and tracking of productivity.
