Amazon loses challenge to union's election win at NYC warehouse

The National Labor Relations Board has rejected Amazon's challenge to the first successful union drive in its history, upholding a 2022 union victory in an election at a New York City warehouse.

The board in a 2-1 decision released late Thursday said Amazon had not raised any issues warranting review of a regional director's ruling last year that certified the Amazon Labor Union as the representative of roughly 8,300 workers at the Staten Island warehouse known as JFK8.

NLRB Chair Lauren McFerran and Member David Prouty, both Democrats, shot down Amazon's various claims that the election was tainted by the conduct of workers, union agents, and NLRB officials who oversaw it.

That included Amazon's argument that ALU President Christian Smalls, a former employee at JFK8, intentionally trespassed on company property so his arrest by police would disrupt anti-union meetings and sway workers to vote for the union.

"Regardless of whether the (union) orchestrated Smalls’ arrest as part of its campaign strategy ... the arrest and the circumstances surrounding it did not preclude voters from making a free and uncoerced choice in the election," the board said.

Member Marvin Kaplan, the board's lone Republican, said in dissent that the union's "aggressive and militant tactics" including trespassing, vandalism, and threats of violence interfered with the election and that a new vote should be held.

Amazon spokesperson Mary Kate Paradis said the board's decision was wrong on the facts and the law.

"The truth is that there was significant interference in this election by both the ALU and the NLRB itself," Paradis said in a statement.

The ALU did not respond to a request for comment.

Amazon cannot appeal the decision, but is pursuing a separate challenge to the ALU's victory in an NLRB case accusing the company of illegally refusing to bargain with the union. In that case, the board's eventual ruling can be appealed to a federal appeals court.

Since the JFK8 election, workers at two other Amazon warehouses in New York and one in Alabama have voted against unionizing.

The ALU has also been embroiled in internal conflicts, including a lawsuit by several members accusing a small group of union officials led by Smalls of refusing to hold officer elections, making changes to the union's bylaws without holding a vote, and threatening critics with legal and disciplinary action. The union denied wrongdoing but agreed to hold a leadership vote, which took place last month.

ALU members in June voted to affiliate with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, a move that gives the union more resources and stronger representation to negotiate contracts.

Amazon, meanwhile, has faced a series of NLRB complaints alleging unlawful union-busting tactics including firing union supporters, barring organizers from company property, and holding mandatory meetings to discourage unionizing, which for decades have generally been considered legal.

Amazon has denied breaking the law and said it respects its employees' right to choose whether to join unions.