Workers at Amazon’s only unionized warehouse in the United States have elected new union leaders, according to a vote count completed Tuesday, marking the first major change for the union since it an alliance was founded with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters.
A slate of candidates led by a former Amazon employee named Connor Spence received the most votes from employees at the warehouse in New York City’s Staten Island borough. Although turnout was very low, Spence received enough support to Amazon union because it aims to secure a contract with a company that has resisted these efforts for years.
Spence, a prominent union organizer, recently led a dissident group who sued the union last year to force a new management election amid internal unrest. He was fired by Amazon last year for violating a company policy that prohibits employees from entering company buildings According to critics, this regulation is designed to hinder trade union organisation.
Only 5% of the 5,312 workers employed at the warehouse voted by mail, said Arthur Schwartz, a lawyer representing the dissident group. Spence received 137 of 247 votes cast, Schwartz said, defeating a current ALU official named Claudia Ashterman and another prominent organizer named Michelle Valentin.
“After more than two years of fighting to reform our union to make it more democratic, transparent and militant, we are relieved to finally be able to turn our attention to bringing Amazon to the table and negotiating an incredible contract,” Spence said in a statement.
Workers in the same camp voted overwhelmingly to join last month with the Teamsters Union that agreed to provide the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) with funding and other types of support until it reaches a contract with Amazon and begins collecting membership fees.
The agreement, a copy of which was seen by The Associated Press, says the ALU will be established as an “autonomous” Teamsters local union with the right to organize Amazon warehouse workers throughout New York City. The union branch, known as ALU-International Brotherhood of Teamsters Local 1, will also be expected to help organize Amazon warehouse workers elsewhere and participate in strategy meetings.
“The question is whether the election result and the affiliation with the Teamsters can generate the necessary momentum among the rank and file,” says Ruth Milkman, a sociologist of labor and labor movements at the City University of New York. “But even if that succeeds, Amazon will fight against it with all its might.”
AP Photo/Haleluya Hadero
Chris Smalls resigns
Spence takes over the leadership role from Chris Smalls, a former Amazon employee. He led the first successful union formation in the USA effort in the retail giant’s history in 2022, when workers at the Staten Island warehouse voted to represent the ALU.
But within the union, organizers began Smalls’ strategy after the group suffered two electoral defeats in New York and withdrew a union election petition in California. Some left the group quietly, while others joined the dissident group led by Spence.
Smalls did not seek re-election. Instead, he supported a slate of candidates led by Ashterman.
Since mail-in ballots began being sent to workers in early July, candidates vying for leadership positions have been campaigning heavily during shift breaks and in public areas near the warehouse, formerly known as the JFK8 Fulfillment Center. Campaigning also took place in the mornings and evenings outside a bus stop near the facility.
On a recent evening, Spence and some members of the dissident group set up a small tent at the bus stop and handed out literature on heat protection and cold water bottles to workers starting or finishing their 10-hour shifts. Other candidates set up a table where they played music or Warehouseman waiting to go home.
Some workers stood there for 45 minutes or more waiting for a shuttle bus – a problem familiar to candidates who have campaigned on raising or raising funds for additional shuttles.
Spence said in an interview earlier this month that there would be joint strategy sessions with the Teamsters once Local 1 has new leadership, but the powerful union has already begun offering support by covering the costs of the Amazon warehouse elections and providing legal counsel if needed.
Union leader arrested
Spence said the Teamsters offered him legal support two weeks ago when Amazon called local police to an ALU rally near the warehouse. During the rally, which was also attended by some Teamsters organizers, officers arrested Spence and six other attendees on the grounds that they were blocking a driveway.
Amazon spokeswoman Mary Kate Paradis said the company also asked non-employees to leave its premises, but organizers say the demonstration took place on a piece of grass they considered public property and where they have held other rallies before.
Since the unionization with the Teamsters, Amazon has made small changes to the warehouse, according to workers. The company the methods used To deter the unions, gates were installed around the building’s parking lot and security guards were posted to monitor everyone entering and leaving the parking lot.
Company spokesman Paradis said Amazon had taken these additional measures for security reasons and to prevent unauthorized entry to the company premises, as has been happening in recent weeks.
Amazon continues to face labor unrest in other countries, including Kentucky, where workers at a major air hub staged a one-day strike last week in coordination with the Teamsters union. More than 100 contract workers Amazon driver In Chicago’s northern suburbs, Teamsters workers have been on strike since late June, demanding higher wages and better health insurance.
But Amazon has also had some successes in recent weeks.
In mid-July, warehouse workers in the UK narrowly rejected a union proposal at a plant in Coventry, a city about 100 miles northwest of London. If the attempt had succeeded, it would have been the first union ever formed at an Amazon warehouse in the UK.
Meanwhile, last week a judge in Washington state ruled in favor of the company in a high-profile worker safety case. Regulators in the case had alleged that Amazon had exposed its employees to unnecessary risks of injury.
In Staten Island, the dissident group ALU is trying to lure warehouse workers out of their comfort zone and mobilize them around issues such as heat protection and the Juneteenth festival, for which Amazon does not provide paid leave, Spence said.
He hopes that the union’s efforts will eventually lead to a strike. He believes that this is the only way Amazon can get to the negotiating table. But he also knows that a unionized warehouse does not have enough influence.
“To get them to the negotiating table, there has to be a national campaign,” Spence said. “We have to identify strategic bottlenecks, organize the warehouses and strike at the same time.”
Attorney Schwartz said the new local union leaders would be sworn in on Wednesday.