(Bloomberg) — A fledgling union took an early lead in an election to unionize one of Amazon.con Inc.’s facilities in New York, while a separate retail union was trailing in a do-over election in Alabama.
With hundreds of ballots still to be counted at about 3 p.m. New York time, the upstart Amazon Labor Union had 678 yes votes compared with 550 no votes from workers at a warehouse in Staten Island. In Bessemer, Alabama, Amazon had 550 votes versus 465 for the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
Christian Smalls, who was fired by Amazon during the pandemic, started the ALU without much help from organized labor. With limited funds, he employed unconventional tactics — tweeting photos of Amazon consultants he deemed “union-busters,” encouraging employees to disrupt the company’s anti-union meetings inside the warehouse and handing out literature in the facility’s parking lot.
A second election was called in Alabama after the RWDSU successfully disputed the results of the first vote, alleging that Amazon intimidated workers and pressured them to cast votes in a mailbox the company had installed on its property in view of security cameras. Amazon denied any wrongdoing.
(Updates with new vote totals, context)
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