Amazon has filed a lawsuit against the formation of the first union by workers at a technology giant’s warehouse in New York’s Staten Island district, local media reported Saturday.
According to the company, union leaders pressured workers to vote in favor of forming a unionan argument that the lawyer of the so-called Amazon Labor Union (ALU), Eric Milner, called “absurd”, according to the CBS channel.
On April 1, workers at Amazon’s JFK8 plant in New York gained a foothold in the tech giant and after months of struggle managed to form the company’s first union in the United States, although it has tried to all means frustrate any union organization initiative.
A total of 2,654 members of the staff voted in favor of organizing, with 2,131 voting against. “Amazon has chosen to ignore it participate in delaying tactics to avoid the inevitable“Sit at the negotiating table and negotiate a contract,” said Milner.
Amazon is the second largest employer in the United States, just behind the Walmart supermarket chain, and since the pandemic began, both its activity and its benefits have skyrocketed and has hired tens of thousands of new workers, reports Efe.
The effect of the pandemic
The outbreak of the pandemic in 2020 in the United States spurred the encouragement of many Amazon workers and other large companies in the country, such as the coffee chain Starbucks, who complained that their employers did not take the necessary measures to protect those of the covid-19.
The Amazon Labor Union was founded by union leader Christian Smalls after he was fired in March 2020 to organize a strike to denounce the lack of protection of workers after the outbreak of covid-19, at a time when he held the position of supervisor of the distribution center.
However, the company alleged that he had been evicted for breaching security protocols when he showed up at the facility despite being asked to be quarantined after being exposed to the coronavirus.
The company’s strategy
The company founded by billionaire Jeff Bezos has invested a great deal of effort and money in preventing its workers from coming together in one voice to negotiate a collective bargaining agreement, which will be the next step if the union is finally officially formed.
For years, its executives had managed to thwart any attempt through pressure, harassment and information campaigns against the labor movement.
In the case of Staten Island, the facilities had been wallpapered with “No vote” signs, but the company also launched a website to that effect.