Amazon workers in North Carolina vote against union effort

Workers at an Amazon warehouse in North Carolina rejected a proposal to unionize, becoming the latest group of the company’s employees to side against union representation.

About three-quarters of employees at an Amazon fulfillment center in Garner, a town located near Raleigh, voted against joining a grassroots labor organization called Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, the National Labor Relations Board announced Saturday.

The federal labor agency said 2,447 workers cast ballots against union representation while 829 voted in favor of joining the independent union, which is made up of former and current Amazon workers. The NLRB had said 4,300 Amazon workers were eligible to cast ballots in the election, which took place Monday through Saturday.

Rev. Ryan Brown, a former Amazon worker who co-founded the group, said Saturday, “We had already braced ourselves for a loss.”

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“We knew that historically the tide was against us to have a win for several reasons,” Brown said. “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.”

The outcome came just weeks after workers at a Whole Foods Market store in Pennsylvania voted to unionize, leading to the first successful entry of organized labor into the grocery chain, which Amazon owns. Following the union win, Whole Foods asked the NLRB to toss out the election results, arguing the voting process was tainted.

In 2022, workers at an Amazon warehouse in the New York City borough of Staten Island unionized with Amazon Labor Union, which joined forces with the Teamsters last year. However, Amazon has objected to the election result and refused to negotiate over a contract.

At the same time, the company has also been able to successfully fend off union victories at a second warehouse on Staten Island, as well as at facilities near Albany, New York, and in Bessemer, Alabama.

In November, an NLRB administrative law judge ordered a third union election for Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer after determining that the company committed six violations leading up to a rerun election in March 2022. That rerun was held after the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is seeking to represent Amazon workers in Bessemer, filed objections to the first election, which results in a union loss.

Workers affiliated with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, or CAUSE, have been organizing at the North Carolina warehouse since January 2022. Co-founder Brown said in an interview last month he started organizing because he felt like Amazon was not providing workers adequate protections against COVID-19.

The company said Saturday that Amazon already offers what many unions are requesting, such as safe and inclusive workplaces and competitive pay.

“We’re glad that our team in Garner was able to have their voices heard, and that they chose to keep a direct relationship with Amazon,” Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in a written statement.