Amazon workers in New York vote to form union in 'historic victory'

Workers at an Amazon warehouse in New York have voted to form a union in a historic vote.

With only a few hundred ballots left to count, workers at the fulfillment centre in Staten Island voted to join an upstart labour union by 2,300 yes votes to just 1,855 no votes for Amazon.

The victory has been described by Bloomberg as a “watershed moment for Amazon”.

The Seattle-based company has managed to keep unions out of its US operations for more than a quarter-century.

“This is a huge shot in the arm for the entire labour movement,” said Kate Bronfenbrenner, the director of labor education research at Cornell University.

“This is going to inspire workers, not just throughout the U.S. In people’s eyes, Amazon and Walmart are interchangeable as the biggest private-sector employers that everyone thought couldn’t be beaten. It takes one of the biggest, and says you can organize anyone.”

Reaction

It's official, @amazonlabor has won the most important labor victory in the last decade. The vote is 2203-1750 in @amazonlabor favor.
— Amir Khafagy (@AmirKhafagy91) April 1, 2022

BREAKING: An Amazon warehouse in NYC looks set to vote to unionize — the first Amazon U.S. facility to do so.

The final tally hasn't been released but yes votes are leading. Chris Smalls, a worker who was fired after protesting unsafe work conditions, led the effort to unionize. pic.twitter.com/QljotnDzxC
— AJ+ (@ajplus) April 1, 2022

BREAKING: Amazon workers have successfully unionized the company's JFK8 warehouse in Staten Island, New York, forming the first U.S. union at the company.@amazonlabor's organizing, led by fired worker Chris Smalls, overcame an expensive union-busting campaign by the tech giant. pic.twitter.com/3z81BoyjFT
— Democracy Now! (@democracynow) April 1, 2022

To get an idea of what @amazonlabor was up against, here is a list of 16 anti-union consultants Amazon brought on last year. And there were plenty more. Amazon spent $4.3 million on this stuff, yet here's a brand new independent union going toe to toe with them. Remarkable. pic.twitter.com/ToxQcPwJd5
— Dave Jamieson (@jamieson) April 1, 2022

Even against one of the biggest, richest, and most powerful anti-union behemoths in the country, @amazon warehouse workers in Staten Island showed that there's nothing more powerful than workers when we stick together.

Solidarity to @amazonlabor on their historic win! https://t.co/JENH3Vjn2n
— Fight For 15 (@fightfor15) April 1, 2022

Amazon workers in New York vote to form union in ‘historic victory’

"Even against one of the biggest, richest, and most powerful anti-union behemoths in the country, warehouse workers in Staten Island showed that there's nothing more powerful than workers when we stick together."

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