US Labor Board Rejects Amazon's Challenge to Historic Unionization Vote

The Gallup polling organization found that 71% of Americans now approve of labor unions, according to results announced this week. "Although statistically similar to last year's 68%, it is up from 64% before the pandemic and is the highest Gallup has recorded on this measure since 1965." And meanwhile, a federal labor board "has rejected Amazon's effort to stop thousands of workers in New York City from unionizing at one of the retailer's largest warehouses in the United States," reports UPI. Specifically, America's National Labor Relations Board (or NLRB) plans to throw out Amazon's objections to a vote by 2,600 workers to unionize at one of the company's warehouses, according to the Washington Post. "The company has held up the proceedings in an objection hearing that dragged on for months," the Post adds, but the ruling "clears a path for the union to become the first certified bargaining unit within the company's vast e-commerce empire." Both sides have until September 16 to file additional exceptions, the NLRB's Kayla Blado said in an email. "While we're still reviewing the decision, we strongly disagree with the conclusion and intend to appeal," said Amazon's Kelly Nantel in a statement..... The news is a win for the organized labor movement, which has continued to work toward unionizing Amazon this summer. New organizing campaigns have sprung up in Kentucky, California and North Carolina, and Amazon workers at a warehouse near Albany, N.Y., are slated to vote on unionization in the coming months. Amazon has accused the NLRB regional office of being biased against the company, and it's possible the company could sue over the outcome. Its tactics could delay contract bargaining, a process that itself could take months or years to complete.

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