Workers at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina have rejected a bid for unionisation, in the latest setback for groups trying to bring labour organisation to the e-commerce giant.
About three-quarters of staff at the Amazon fulfillment centre in Garner, near state capital Raleigh, voted against joining a new organisation called the Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE), the National Labor Relations Board said.
Some 2,447 workers cast ballots against representation, with 829 voting in favour of joining the independent body, out of a total of 4,300 the NLRB said were eligible to vote.
‘Braced for a loss’
Rev. Ryan Brown, a former Amazon worker who founded the union, said the group had “already braced ourselves for a loss”.
“We knew that historically the tide was against us to have a win for several reasons. One, we’re in the South. Two, the average worker that’s in North Carolina knows nothing about a union and the benefits of a union and what a union could do for them,” Brown said.
North Carolina had union membership of only 2.4 percent last year, the lowest of any US state, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.
The vote followed two weeks after a Whole Foods Market location in Philadelphia voted to join a union, a first for the Amazon-owned grocery chain.
In 2022 workers at an Amazon warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island joined the Amazon Labor Union, which joined with the Teamsters last year.
But has yet to recognise the union or join in negotiations with it, and has challenged the vote’s legitimacy.
The company has defeated union organisers in votes at a second Staten Island warehouse and in facilities near Albany, New York and Bessemer, Alabama.
Unionisation battle
In November an NLRB administrative law judge ordered a third unionisation vote for workers at the Bessemer warehouse after ruling Amazon committed six violations leading up to a second vote in March 2022.
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union had challenged the initial Bessemer vote, which resulted in a loss.
Last year workers in a Quebec facility voted to join a union, but Amazon this month began firing nearly 1,700 workers in the province in what union officials say is retaliation for the vote. Amazon said employing contractors rather than employees would save money.
CAUSE co-founder Brown said he began organising in 2022 because he felt Amazon was not providing workers with adequate Covid-19 protections.
Amazon argues that it already offers what many unions are requesting, such as safe and inclusive workplaces and competitive pay, and that a direct relationship with the company is better than interacting through a union.
The firm said it was glad workers “chose to keep a direct relationship” with Amazon.