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Amazon workers at a New York facility have voted to form a union. That becomes like a gamechanger seen in the labor relations at the e-commerce giant in the US.
Employees at the JFK8 facility, Amazon’s largest on Staten Island, voted 2,654 to 2,131 to create a union, the National Labor Relations Board said Friday. According to the NLRB, there were about 8,300 eligible voters.
A similar vote in Alabama does not seem to yield a majority for the time being. The vote on Staten Island, which has already seen several protests over working conditions, is nonetheless an important milestone for the huge number of warehouse workers at Amazon, who had no union representation at all before the vote.
Working conditions
Friday’s results could encourage other union efforts at Amazon facilities, labor experts say, though it could take months or more for JFK8 workers to enforce an initial union contract. Amazon may make changes to its warehouse to prevent further union action, experts warn.
Groups of employees have been pushing for better pay and benefits for years, but until today Amazon has convinced employees that a union is not necessary due to the company’s relatively high wages and benefits.
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