The Amazon Labor Union has reportedly gotten a "sufficient showing of interest" in holding a union election among JFK8 warehouse employees in Staten Island, New York.
A hearing will be held on Feb. 16 to work out details of the election, the National Labor Relations Board confirmed to Vice reporter Lauren Kaori Gurley on Wednesday. The warehouse's first petition to hold a union vote was rejected by the NLRB in November for not having enough employees who had signed authorization cards. Workers refiled its petition in December.
BREAKING: @amazonlabor has attained "a sufficient showing of interest" to hold a union election at NYC's JFK8 warehouse, NLRB confirmed to me
A hearing will be held on Feb 16 to determine the specifics of election. This is the 2nd time that Amazon workers have gotten this far
— Lauren Kaori Gurley (@LaurenKGurley) January 26, 2022
The election is another signal of the rising demand for unionization among Amazon warehouse workers as the company faces continued scrutiny for its treatment of employees. A second vote to unionize an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama will be held on Feb. 4, after results of the first election last March were thrown out due to illegal interference by the company. Amazon also finalized a settlement with the NLRB in December to allow its warehouse employees to organize more easily.
Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel, said in a statement, "We’re skeptical that there are a sufficient number of legitimate signatures and we’re seeking to understand how these signatures were verified. Our employees have always had a choice of whether or not to join a union, and as we saw just a few months ago, the vast majority of our team in Staten Island did not support the ALU."
Update: This post was updated with a statement from Amazon.
Correction: This post was updated to correct the day the hearing was announced.