Amazon workers in New York close to forming historic union after key vote

Elsewhere, a unionization vote by Alabama workers is pending as hundreds of votes were challenged

Amazon workers in New York are close to voting to form a union - a major win for labor activists who have failed in previous efforts to organize at the tech giant that is now the second largest private employer in the US.

Workers at an Amazon fulfillment center in Staten Island will find out on Friday whether or not they want to form a union, Amazon's first in the US where it now employs over one million people.