Amazon workers in an installation near Raleight, North Carolina, voted overly against the unionization on Saturday.
Of the 3,276 tickets cast, there were 2,447 votes to oppose the Union and 829 in favor, according to the National Board of Labor Relations. There were 77 challenged ballots, a gap that is too close to change the result of the elections. The results must still be certified by the NLRB.
The choice in the installation, called RDU1 and located in the suburb of Garner, occurred after the organizers with the Carolina Amazonens United For Solidarity and Empowerment (cause) campaign (cause) campaigned in the warehouse during the last three years. The installation uses approximately 4,700 workers.
Cause said in a statement that the results of the elections were a “result of Amazon’s will to violate the law.”
“The relentless and illegal efforts of Amazon to intimidate us show that this company is afraid that workers gather to claim our power,” the group said. “Amazon may think that it is above the law, but we will not accept a system that allows billionaires and corporations to play with a different set of rules.”
Amazon spokeswoman Eileen Hards denied the company to violate the law or interfere with the elections.
“We are happy that our team in Garner has been able to listen to their voices, and that they chose to maintain a direct relationship with Amazon,” Hards said in a statement. “We hope to continue doing this a great place to work together and support our teammates while building their future with us.”
Amazon, the second largest private employer in the nation, has tried to keep unions out of their ranks. The strategy was successful in the USA until 2022, when workers in a Staten Island warehouse voted to join the Amazon work union. Last month, the workers of a Whole Foods store in Philadelphia voted to join United Food and Commercial Workers Union.
Amazon responded to Garner Union Drive with a flood of anti-union messages in the warehouse, on a website, and sent through its Atoz application to employees. A warehouse leader urged employees to “vote not”, saying that a union “can get in the path of how we work together.” The company described the cause as an “external part” that “claims to be a union.”
Amazon has said previously that their employees can choose whether or not they join a union, and that he speaks “openly, sincerely and respectfully about these issues” so that they can “make an informed decision.”
The cause was founded in 2022 by the employees of RDU1 Mary Hill and the Reverend Ryan Brown to express the concerns about the company’s response to the Covid pandemic, which they considered inadequate. The group sought to organize RDU1 to increase wages and ensure longer breaks.
Starting payment in RDU1 is $ 18.50 per hour. The cause has pressed to negotiate salaries of $ 30 per hour.
In his Saturday statement, Cause said he intended to continue organizing in RDU1 “because more than half of Amazon employees are still fighting with the insecurity of food and homes.”
Labor groups have looked beyond the NLRB elections in an attempt to obtain a position on Amazon. They have helped employees present unjust labor practice positions against Amazon, accusing the company to violate labor laws.
The Teamsters International Brotherhood helped coordinate a picket effort in nine Amazon facilities in December. Amazon said the strike had no impact on its operations.
The Teamsters union has said that it represents 9,000 Amazon workers throughout the country, although the company has refused to recognize the union and negotiate with leadership.
The unions have enjoyed increasing support throughout the country, with 67% of Americans who say they approve the unions, according to Gallup. But that has not translated into higher membership rates. Trade union membership in the private sector decreased slightly to 5.9% in 2024, according to the Office of Labor Statistics.
North Carolina had the lowest union membership rate in the country last year, with only 2.4% of workers in the state represented, according to the BLS.
