Employees Amazon A New York warehouse voted to form the first union in the U.S. retail giant. It is considered a big win for the company’s employees who are the second largest private employer in New York State. The vote is a significant milestone for thousands of Amazon warehouse workers. American workers at Amazon.
2,564 employees at JFK8 Warehouses – Amazon’s largest facility on Staten Island in New York – voted in favor of establishing a union. On the other hand, 2,131 people objected. This is according to the National Council for Labor Relations (NLRB).
In recent hours, there has been a struggle between company representatives and workers’ representatives over several dozen “problematic” notes, but after a gap of hundreds of workers opened up in favor of establishing the union, the struggle became meaningless. However, a significant portion of the company’s 8,300 employees at JFK8 did not turn out to vote.
In the US, it is estimated that the decision to form an association on Amazon, which has waged several major battles in recent years against their establishment in other states, especially in Alabama, may encourage other association efforts on Amazon – in other countries or in other areas of the company.
Amazon is the second largest employer in the U.S. after Walmart employs 1.6 million people. As of the end of 2021, 950,000 people worked at Amazon across the United States. That means one in 153 working Americans works on Amazon. That year, Amazon’s sales were $ 221 billion.
Amazon’s policy has drawn fire
In some areas of the company across the U.S., workers left their positions in 2020 and 2021 in protest of terms of employment. According to federal data, however, the company rejects these statistics on the grounds that it reports injuries more comprehensively than other companies.
Various groups of employees at the company have pushed for better working conditions for years, but the company has so far managed to win in previous votes after succeeding in convincing employees that the union is redundant, due to the relatively high salaries and benefits Amazon provides to employees.
Amazon has raised wages several times last year due to the general shortage of working hands in the US market. Some of Amazon’s new employees have received a transaction bonus and a salary of $ 20 per hour, with the company’s starting salary currently averaging more than $ 18 per hour.
In 2018, Amazon set a minimum wage of $ 15 per hour, which is considered an advanced wage in the U.S. However, at the same time as it raised the minimum past for employees, it removed incentives like bonuses and stock payments. In addition, only 3% of Amazon employees receive promotion during Their work – about a third of other employees in this industry.Studies have also shown that when Amazon opens a packaging warehouse somewhere, immediately wages in the industry in that area are cut by 6% because Amazon is a monopoly in employment.
The terms of employment of warehouse workers at Amazon have been the focus of interest since the Corona epidemic caused widespread closures of schools and offices, which increased online shopping and demand for Amazon products and services.
The most surprising support came from Amazon workers, from U.S. President Joe Biden, who said before the vote at the Basmer Alabama warehouse that the results of the re-vote there are now clear: “There must be no threats and propaganda against unions in the workplace. No manager should approach his employees and try to convince them about their choices regarding a union. The law guarantees the right to association. “So make your voice heard and may God bless you and may God protect the workers and their families who are trying to make a fair living.”