Staten Island showdown: NLRB orders Amazon to bargain with union

(Editor’s note: comments from the Teamsters have been added). Amazon has been ordered by the National Labor Relations Board to recognize and bargain with the union at a warehouse on Staten Island, New York.

The union there was originally known as the Amazon Labor Union, owing to the fact that when it was elected by the warehouse rank-and-file to represent it in April 2022, it was a standalone union not tied to any larger organization. It has since aligned with the Teamsters. The union estimates there are approximately 5,000 workers at the facility.

But Amazon has steadfastly refused to bargain with the union, leading to the workers bringing a complaint before the NLRB. The vote at the agency is notable because it comes from a board that for many months had no quorum to do anything.

But it has since reached the minimum level of three members, yet still sided with the union despite it being a 2-1 Republican-dominated board.

The NLRB’s document and recap of the events since the union was elected in 2022 note that the board’s General Counsel and regional directors have consistently handed down dictums that Amazon be required to bargain with the union.

“(Amazon) denies that it has unlawfully refused to bargain,” the NLRB said in its document handing down the order against the company.

“Rather, it asserts that it has no duty to bargain and contests the validity of the certification of representative based on its contention that the union is not the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of any employee at its Fulfillment Center located on Staten Island.” That warehouse is known as JFK8.

Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York City. Union said Amazon wouldn’t bargain In a recap of the back-and-forth between the NLRB and Amazon following the vote, the NLRB said the agency’s regional director for the New York area in January 2023 certified the union as “exclusive bargaining representative” for the workers at JFK8.

Two weeks later, according to the document, the union filed a charge with the agency that Amazon was refusing to bargain. “That same day, the (NLRB) Region contacted (Amazon’s) counsel and asked whether (it) was testing certification by refusing to bargain with the union,” the NLRB said in its recap.

“(Amazon’s) counsel confirmed that it was ‘testing certification, and intend[ed] to file a request for review’ of the Regional Director’s Decision and Certification of Representative.” According to the NLRB, the union requested Amazon to begin bargaining on April 2, 2022.

But since that date, the NLRB said, Amazon “has failed and refused to recognize and bargain with the Union as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the unit.”’ “We find that (Amazon’s) conduct constitutes an unlawful failure and refusal to recognize and bargain with the union,” the NLRB said.

The agency ordered Amazon to “cease and desist” from failing to recognize the union, and to begin bargaining with the union “as the exclusive collective-bargaining representative of the employees.”

In a prepared statement, the Teamsters quoted President Sean O’Brien calling the NLRB order “an historic victory for Amazon Teamsters nationwide and a testament to worker power.”

It also quoted Randy Korgan, director of the Teamsters’ Amazon division, as saying the company’s strategy has been to “delay, delay, delay – and the NLRB confirmed it because the law is not on their side. Amazon Teamsters know that this company will try to do anything it can to worm out of its responsibilities.”

Amazon will challenge In a prepared statement, Amazon (NASDAQ: AMZN) said the NLRB certification of the election back in March 2022 “is wrong on the facts and the law, and the truth is that both the (Amazon Labor Union) and representatives of the NLRB improperly influenced this election.”

“This decision is just part of the process of challenging the underlying certification,” the statement continued. “We’re confident an unbiased court will overturn the original certification, and we look forward to the opportunity for our team to fairly voice their opinions.”

As of publication time, the Teamsters had not released a statement about the NLRB decision. They aren’t related, but the NLRB decision came one day after news of an agreement between Amazon and the Teamsters regarding financial penalties the company levies against workers who walk off the job as part of a unionization drive.

Spotty history of union success The only other employees in the Amazon empire who have voted to unionize are at a Whole Foods outlet in Philadelphia. A closely-watched vote at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama failed in 2021.

Workers at Direct Service Providers (DSPs) who deliver packages are employed by the owners of the DSPs, though the Teamsters refers to them as “Amazon Teamsters.” Some of the workers at DSPs have used the signing of authorization cards–also known as “card check”–to claim a unionization victory. But only one DSP recognized a union victor