Amazon labor organizers push for second union victory in New York

Amazon workers in New York will go to the polls again as labor activists push to unionize a second facility in the US following their surprise recent victory over the tech giant.

About 1,500 eligible workers at an LDJ5 Amazon sorting center in Staten Island, New York, begin voting in a union election on Monday, in a process that will continue through 29 April. Ballot-counting starts on 2 May.

Amazon has aggressively opposed unionization among its workforce, which totals about 1.1 million people in the US alone. The fight comes as workers at other major corporations including Starbucks are fighting to unionize.

Amazon has spent millions hiring union avoidance consultants. Amazon Labor Union (ALU) organizers have alleged harassment and intimidation from management.

The sorting center is right across the street from the JFK8 warehouse where workers won a historic first union election at Amazon in the US on 1 April.

It is the second union election petition filed by the ALU, an independent group of current and former Amazon workers with no affiliation with established labor unions and led by the former Amazon worker Chris Smalls.

Ahead of the election, ALU hosted a rally featuring speeches from Senator Bernie Sanders and union leaders, including the AFA-CWA international president, Sara Nelson, and Mark Dimondstein, president of the American Postal Workers Union.

ALU organizers who work at LDJ5 have said they experienced similar anti-union efforts by Amazon, and have filed multiple unfair labor practice charges with the National Labor Relations Board.