By Mark Satinoff

STATEN ISLAND, NEW YORK, June 18, 2024 — Workers at Amazon’s giant JFK8 fulfillment center here ratified affiliation with the 1.3-million-member International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT). The results were announced today.

According to an Instagram live stream of the tally provided by the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), the vote was nearly unanimous, with 98.3 percent approving affiliation with the Teamsters. Of the nearly 850 workers who cast ballots, 824 voted “Yes” and 14 voted “No.” Ten ballots were deemed invalid. The newly chartered local will represent Amazon warehouse workers at JFK8.

Chris Smalls, president of the ALU, and Sean O’Brien, president of the Teamsters, signed the affiliation agreement on June 3. This was preceded by weeks of informal negotiations between leaders of the Amazon Labor Union Democratic Reform Caucus (ALUDRC), members of ALU’s Executive Board, and leaders of the Teamsters.  

A flyer summarizing the main points of the agreement was distributed at the three polling stations set up outside JFK8 (see below).

The wording on the ballot was straightforward, “YES, I agree/NO, I do not agree, to the ALU affiliating with the IBT.”

The full text of the affiliation agreement can be found here.

This reporter observed the first of the three days of voting, which took place outside JFK8. In addition to ALU activists from the three slates vying for leadership of the union in the upcoming officer elections, about a dozen Teamsters members were present that day. All of these unionists agreed on affiliation with the Teamsters. They were there to encourage workers going into work or waiting at the bus stop after finishing their shift to vote YES.

Firings, harassment of union organizers

Amazon’s private security and the police are a constant presence.

On June 12, while campaigning outside the warehouse, the police arrested ALUDRC leaders Connor Spence and Sultana Hossain for trespassing on company property. They were taken to the local precinct, were released shortly thereafter, and are due in court toward the end of this month to face criminal charges. Amazon fired both of them for their union activity, Spence in November and Hossain in August 2023. The two have filed Unfair Labor Practice (ULP) charges, which are pending with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB).

Amazon claims that only actively employed workers are allowed on company property.

According to an ALUDRC statement, however, under the National Labor Relations Act “workers fired in connection with an unfair labor practice charge are still considered employees under the law who retain the right to organize as they challenge the termination. Both Connor and Sultana have pending ULPs. We know our rights and aren’t going anywhere!”

“For weeks leading up to the vote, Amazon’s senior management has repeatedly demanded that the ALUDRC take down our table, but eventually back down when we refuse and assert our rights as guaranteed by the NLRB,” Hossain told World-Outlook. “The heavy surveillance by the police and Amazon security create an intimidating and hostile atmosphere.”

The ALU was the first and only union to win a representation election at an Amazon facility in the United States to date. The vote at JFK8 took place more than two years ago, March 25-30, 2022. Among 8,325 eligible voters, nearly 5,000 ballots were cast. The ALU won by a margin of 523 votes, with nearly 55% of workers voting for the union.

Amazon refused to accept the results of the representation election. The company — the second largest employer in the United States after Walmart — filed 25 objections to the vote with the NLRB. Ten months elapsed before an NLRB regional director tossed out all of those objections. The labor board finally certified the union on January 11, 2023.

Amazon subsequently filed an appeal with the NLRB in Washington, D.C. It has refused to recognize the union or come to the bargaining table. This is in line with the company’s strategy of tying up the union in court, draining it of valuable resources, and hoping to demoralize the workers through repeated delays. The NLRB has yet to rule on Amazon’s latest appeal.

Internal strife within the ALU has also set back the workers’ efforts to organize and force the company to negotiate a contract with better pay, improved benefits, and safer job conditions.

ALU’s current officers and executive board are unelected and self-appointed. In response, dozens of Amazon workers at JFK8 formed the ALU Democratic Reform Caucus (ALUDRC) in December 2022 in an attempt to democratize the union and push forward the effort to force Amazon to negotiate a contract.

On July 10, 2023, the ALUDRC filed a lawsuit demanding elections for officers and a committee that would draft a new constitution to be ratified by the rank-and-file. As a result of an out-of-court settlement, a referendum by the workers was held in late February to decide these issues. Both referendum questions received a majority YES vote.

Regarding what’s next, Spence told World-Outlook, “The next steps are to have our officer elections, to redraft the union’s bylaws, so that they’re not in contradiction with the IBT’s international bylaws, but then also so that we could just have a fresh start for a new ALU-IBT local and pick up where we left off trying to reorganize at JFK8 — and organize the rest of the Amazon warehouses in New York City and be part of a larger national campaign to put pressure on the company.”

Union election to start June 27

Ballots for elections of officers and a committee to draft a new constitution are scheduled to be mailed out June 27 and counted on July 19.

There are three slates competing for President, Vice President, Recording Secretary, and Treasurer. One is backed by the ALUDRC. Another is called ALU-Maat and its candidate for president is Claudia Ashterman, who is currently the union’s recording secretary. The third slate is called Workers First, and is headed by Michelle Valentin Nieves, the ALU vice president. Smalls, ALU’s current president, is not running for office.

The newly chartered local, to be known as Amazon Labor Union No. 1, International Brotherhood of Teamsters (ALU-IBT Local 1), has jurisdiction over all Amazon warehouse employees within the five boroughs of New York City.

“There are two other warehouses that we would want to focus on here in Staten Island, LDJ5 and DYY6, and then there’s a handful of other Amazon warehouses across NYC,” Spence said. “In total that’s probably around 20,000 workers.” (In the lingo of Amazon’s complex logistics network, LDJ5 is a sortation center and DYY6 is a delivery station.)

Asked if there are any other Amazon warehouses affiliated with the Teamsters, Spence said JFK8 is the first where a vote for union representation has been certified by the NLRB. “There are other rank-and-file committees that are part of the Teamsters Amazon division, but we’re the first ones to go through a formal affiliation process,” he added.

There are active Teamster organizing committees at LDJ5 in Staten Island and Amazon’s massive air hub in northern Kentucky (KCVG). Both were previously affiliated with the ALU.

I asked Spence, who is running for president of the union on the ALUDRC slate, why the ALU decided to affiliate with the Teamsters.

“I think ultimately everybody came to realize that if we’re gonna have the leverage to bring Amazon to the table we need a national campaign,” Spence responded.

“Being an independent union, even at the best of times, can only allow us to raise enough money to support our operations at our one warehouse — JFK8. So, the fact that the Teamsters are already organizing Amazon is good, and we would have the institutional backing of the International Union and all the resources that come with that. I think we just all decided it was the right time.”

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