Organizers from Staten Island’s Amazon facilities have filed a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to form a union. They’ve collected roughly 2,000 signatures. It’s the latest in a series of similar moves by other Amazon warehouse workers to gain collective bargaining and negotiation power.
Lynne Vincent is an assistant professor of management with expertise in industrial and labor relations at Syracuse University’s Whitman School of Management. Earlier this year, professor Vincent provided comments about worker unionization efforts at the Amazon fulfillment center in Bessemer, AL, and is available for updated academic analysis today. The Associated Press, Business Insider, and The Washington Post were among the many outlets she spoke with.
Related to this most recent news, she says:
“Amazon is using their anti-union tactics that we have seen before – public comments about wanting to hear from employees (directly rather than through a union), voicing skepticism that a union would have support from the employees, and circulating anti-union communications. It is a different warehouse, a different state, and different set of employees. It is too early to know what will happen, but we are seeing the same trends.
“Employees are frustrated and want better working conditions and benefits. Amazon is sticking with what has worked for them in the past. At this point, I am waiting and watching.”
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