Sawt Falasteen - Counting starts in latest union vote at Amazon US warehouse

Over the last few days, employees at the ALB1 warehouse near Albany in upstate New York cast ballots in the third vote on a unionization petition by the Amazon Labor Union (ALU).

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) said it expects the counting to last several hours, concluding later Tuesday.

The union estimates that 400 hourly workers are eligible to vote. Seasonal employees, information technology employees and truck drivers were among the workers excluded from voting, according to an NLRB email.

Established in 2021 by a small group of current and ex-employees frustrated at Amazon's workforce policies during the pandemic, ALU scored an upset win in April at the 8,000-employee JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island in New York City.

Led by its president Christian Smalls, a former worker at the Staten Island site, the ALU win gave a jolt to the US organized labor movement after a solid majority voted for representation.

However, just weeks later, the ALU suffered a setback when the LDJ5 warehouse, also in Staten Island, voted against the group.

Amazon has refused to accept the election outcome in the first Staten Island vote, arguing the results should be tossed out in light of alleged improprieties.

Last month, an NLRB official rejected Amazon's claims as groundless after a 24-day hearing on the e-commerce giant's claims.

F.AbuShamala--SF-PST