The stream of Friday-afternoon revellers will continue to pour in. AmazonAfter finishing their day’s shift, workers left a warehouse in Staten Island. Many workers packed their bags and boarded city buses for the return journey. They walked by a white tent that stretched across the entire parking lot as they went.

The tent will become a key site over the course of five days.

JFK8 workers are now voting to decide whether they want to join Amazon Labor Union. This group is made up current and ex-workers. This will have an impact far beyond New York City’s smallest borough. It will also affect all workers at Amazon’s warehouses that offer Prime Shipping within two days.

On Friday, the buzz was palpable as JFK8 employees gathered at a bus stop to talk about the election. Many wore yellow “vote yes” lanyards while others had blue “vote not” t-shirts.

Elections will run through March 30th, and the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will start counting votes on the next day. ALU called for Amazon to increase wages and other demands. Amazon raised the average hourly wage to $18.

The second union vote at Amazon Warehouse in one year is a concerning sign. This could indicate that the company has been avoiding organized labor for many years. Amazon employees in Bessemer (Alabama) were among the first to attempt unionization last spring. Despite the failure of the previous union drive, workers at Amazon’s Bessemer facility in Alabama are back on the job after the NLRB ordered a re-run.

New York and Alabama workers vote on joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. The organizing efforts at other locations, including another Staten Island warehouse where the election is scheduled to start later next month, are ongoing.

Amazon will be more aggressive the more targeted national labor organizations are. has becomeIn discouraging employees to join. 

Amazon covered JFK8’s walls with banners proclaiming, “Vote No.” Even the company had a banner on JFK8 stating “Vote No.” set up a websiteAccording to employees, the ALU made big promises, but provided very few details about how it would achieve these goals. Amazon employees have to attend weekly meetings that feature anti-union presentations.

Kevin Pardee worked for JFK8 two-and-a-half years and said it has been difficult to forget Amazon’s “overwhelming, unionbusting” behavior while walking through the facility.  

Pardee stated, “You cannot go anywhere without any form of anti-union propagandist in your face.”

CNBC was referred to previous statements by Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel.

“Every day we empower people to find ways to improve their jobs, and when they do that we want to make those changes — quickly,” Amazon has said. It is difficult to make continuous improvements quickly with unions at the center.

ALU organizers also have been vocal. In order to give out flyers, and collect their union authorization cards, the ALU organizers set up a tent next to a bus stop. They have also delivered lunches to JFK8 employees’ break rooms, drawing attention to the cause. TwitterAnd TikTok.

JFK8, a JFK8 office park, sits right off the Staten Island Expressway. This is where two of Amazon warehouses are located. JFK8 serves as an important distribution point for Amazon’s activities in the area. You can find more 2.4 million packagesEvery day, they are delivered in New York City. 

JFK8 employed approximately 6000 workers to help keep package flow flowing in the city during lockdowns. This was because many people were not at home or wanted to be redirected to other places.

On March 20, 2020, just after the U.S. pandemic, the workers of the facility held a walkout to express their dissatisfaction with Amazon’s failures to safeguard them.

Shortly thereafter, Amazon was the focus of national attention. firing Chris SmallsThe protest was led by a former management assistant. Vice obtained a leaked memo. revealedAmazon’s general attorney David Zapolsky had described Smalls as “not intelligent or articulate” when he met with company top executives. The incident angered further critics of Amazon labor practices.

A union petition was filed by the ALU with the NLRB on October 1st to allow it unionize. After resubmitting its petition earlier in the year, the NLRB approved the ALU’s request to proceed with a vote. The president of ALU is Smalls.

It is quite unusual for the ALU to hold an election, since it is a grassroots worker-led organisation and not a national labor organization. The organizers argue that it is more approachable for employees.

Angelika Maldonado (chairwoman of ALU’s workers committee) returned to Amazon after quitting her job at JFK8. Soon, she met other ALU organizers who were gathering around a bonfire at the stop near the warehouse.

Maldonado was a single mom and a father to a young boy. She said she learned so much from her fellow workers about their struggles. According to Maldonado, one organizer is homeless while others sleep in their cars.

The ALU has begun to gather outside support. United Food and Commercial Workers Union and New York City chapter Unite Here, which is a hospitality union, both supported the campaign.

Derrick Palmer (ALU organizer, JFK8 worker) said that “we have experience from the unions which are guiding us.” “We did not get to this point by chance.”

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