Amazon workers at a second New York warehouse intend to seek union representation by filing with the National Labor Relations Board on Wednesday, signaling continued labor struggles ahead for the commerce behemoth as a wave of labor organizing sweeps the retail industry.
Workers at the facility, LDJ5 on Staten Island, seek representation with the Amazon Labor Union, according to a tweet from organizer Christian Smalls. The union is led by current and former Amazon employees, including Smalls, who attracted national attention in early 2020 when he was fired after organizing an employee walkout of the Staten Island warehouse he worked at, JFK8, to protest working conditions at the start of the pandemic. Workers at JFK8 have signaled their intent to unionize since April 2021. Last week, they won approval from the NLRB to hold union elections later this spring.
—Christian Smalls (@Shut_downAmazon) February 2, 2022
Amazon is also facing a second union vote at a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, after the NLRB found that the retail giant's conduct in the first election a year ago was unlawful and ordered a revote, scheduled to start Friday. Labor leaders at Bessemer, though, are facing an uphill battle. Nearly half the warehouse's employees quit or were fired since the previous union vote last year.
Amazon is not the only retailer to see an uptick in union campaigns among its employees. Workers at more than 50 Starbucks locations have filed unionization petitions with the NLRB in the past two months. Workers at a New York City location of outdoor retailer REI also petitioned this month to form a union.
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