Ian Kullgren
Bloomberg Law
Jan. 11, 2024, 3:12 PM EST; Updated: Jan. 11, 2024, 6:52 PM EST
Demonstrators during an Amazon Labor Union rally outside an Amazon warehouse in the Staten Island borough of New York on April 11, 2023.
Photographer: Paul Frangipane/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Pact paves way for officer elections after bad blood boils over
Sides to hold mass meeting, agree to stop trash talking
Amazon.com Inc.'s first labor union has reached a settlement agreement with a group of dissenters who accused leaders of illegally preventing officer elections to retain power.
The parties agreed to set aside their differences and hold a mass meeting next month to discuss officer elections as well as changes to the union constitution, according to the consent order entered Wednesday in the US District Court for the Eastern District of New York.
The pact settles a July complaint from more than 40 dissenters who accused Amazon Labor Union President Chris Smalls of bending the group’s constitution, stacking leadership ranks with allies, and silencing those who disagreed with his approach.
The Amazon Labor Union in 2022 became the first group of its kind to represent 8,000 US warehouse workers, pulling off a stunning victory on Staten Island, N.Y., against a well-funded opposition campaign from Amazon, succeeding where more established unions have failed. The victory made an overnight celebrity of Smalls, a previously unknown warehouse employee who became a symbol of worker unrest in 2020 when he was fired after leading a strike over Covid-19 safety protocols.
The union has yet to reach a first contract with Amazon, facing steep opposition from the company and infighting amid its own ranks.
Limited Unionization
Amazon has successfully staved off unions at other US facilities, including a closely-watched plant in Bessemer, Ala., where in 2021 a National Labor Relations Board official ordered a do-over election in the wake of allegations of company meddling. The union’s challenge to disputed ballots in the second election remains unresolved.
Activism has swelled in Amazon warehouses elsewhere in the country but has achieved few results.
In November, Amazon clashed with workers in Kentucky who disobeyed orders to take down a pro-union display outside an airport facility. The dispute demonstrated Amazon’s ability to modify its policy for evading unions while seeking not to run afoul of federal labor protections.
The online retail giant remains a target for the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, which aims to unionize drivers nationwide.
In Wednesday’s ALU consent order, both sides acknowledged that a protracted legal fight would prevent them from adequately representing workers at the Staten Island facility, known as JFK 8. They also agreed to try not to embarrass one another in public.
“My clients fully expect that the members, in the four-day vote over whether to hold an election and create an elected constitutional revision committee, will vote to do so in overwhelming numbers,” Arthur Schwartz, an attorney for the group that filed the complaint, said in an email. “In fact, we expect no opposition.”
An ALU spokeswoman didn’t respond to a request for comment.
Members of the caucus agreed to “reintegrate” with the union at large as part of the deal.
ALU has agreed to hold a plant-wide meeting in late February to discuss whether to hold officer elections, followed by a vote on the question from Feb. 27-March 2, according to the order. The group will also discuss whether to appoint a committee to make recommendations on changing the union’s constitution.
The vote will be overseen by a neutral monitor agreed to by both parties.
The case is Sylla v. Amazon Labor Union, E.D.N.Y., No. 1:23-cv-05261, consent order entered 1/10/24.
(Updates with comment from plaintiffs' attorney at 11th paragraph. )
To contact the reporter on this story: Ian Kullgren in Washington at ikullgren@bloombergindustry.com
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Laura D. Francis at lfrancis@bloomberglaw.com; Genevieve Douglas at gdouglas@bloomberglaw.com; Andrew Harris at aharris@bloomberglaw.com
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