© 2025 Connecticut Public

FCC Public Inspection Files:
WEDH · WEDN · WEDW · WEDY
WEDW-FM · WNPR · WPKT · WRLI-FM
Public Files Contact · ATSC 3.0 FAQ
Play Live Radio
Next Up:
0:00
0:00
0:00 0:00
Available On Air Stations

A 2nd Amazon warehouse on Staten Island begins voting on a union

Workers walk to cast their votes over whether or not to unionize, at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island on March 25, 2022. Another Amazon warehouse across the street began voting on a union on Monday.
Ed Jones
/
AFP via Getty Images
Workers walk to cast their votes over whether or not to unionize, at an Amazon warehouse on Staten Island on March 25, 2022. Another Amazon warehouse across the street began voting on a union on Monday.

Can an upstart, independent union stage a repeat victory?

That's the question on Staten Island this week as more Amazon warehouse workers vote on whether to join the Amazon Labor Union.

Roughly 1,500 workers who work in a facility sorting packages for delivery are eligible to vote in the election. Voting, which is taking place in person under a tent outside the warehouse, began at 4:30 a.m. on Monday and concludes at 11 p.m. on Friday.

The election comes less than a month after the Amazon Labor Union won a historic victory, unionizing the first Amazon warehouse in the U.S. — a massive facility across the street where some 8,300 workers pick and package up items for customer orders. Led by former and current Amazon workers, the Amazon Labor Union accomplished what well-established unions with deep pockets had long set their sights on but failed to accomplish.

The Amazon Labor Union is calling for longer breaks, better health and safety policy, and raises, among other demands. In Amazon warehouses, the work is fast-paced and physically demanding, with workers lifting packages as heavy as 50 pounds.

Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls speaks following the April 1, 2022, vote  if favor of unionization, a first for Amazon facilities in the U.S.
Andrea Renault / AFP via Getty Images
/
AFP via Getty Images
Amazon Labor Union president Chris Smalls speaks following the April 1, 2022, vote if favor of unionization, a first for Amazon facilities in the U.S.

In the weeks since the union's win, union president Chris Smalls says he's heard from workers at more than a hundred other Amazon facilities, expressing interest in unionizing.

Meanwhile, Amazon continues to fight back, spending millions of dollars on anti-union consultants and filing objections in the election it lost.

Amazon says the National Labor Relations Board's regional office in Brooklyn, which oversaw the election, favored the union and facilitated its victory. The company also raised objections to some of the Amazon Labor Union's actions, charging that organizers harassed and threatened employees who weren't supporting the union and handed out marijuana to workers in return for their support. In fact, the union organizers have spoken openly about providing workers with marijuana, but not as a bribe.

A hearing will be held to consider these objections at a future date.

Meanwhile, the union election at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, still hangs in the balance, with hundreds of contested ballots unresolved. Both Amazon and the Amazon Labor Union have filed objections in that election.

And a petition for a union election at a 200-person Amazon facility in Bayonne, New Jersey, was withdrawn just days after it was filed. The union behind the petition, Local 713 International Brotherhood of Trade Union, has no contact name or number on its website. Since 2012, two of its leaders have been indicted on corruption chargers. A lawyer for the union declined further comment on the election petition or its withdrawal.

Copyright 2022 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

Andrea Hsu is NPR's labor and workplace correspondent.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT is an initiative from Connecticut Public, the state’s local NPR and PBS station, to elevate Latino stories and expand programming that uplifts and informs our Latino communities. Visit CTPublic.org/latino for more stories and resources. For updates, sign up for the SOMOS CONNECTICUT newsletter at ctpublic.org/newsletters.

SOMOS CONNECTICUT es una iniciativa de Connecticut Public, la emisora local de NPR y PBS del estado, que busca elevar nuestras historias latinas y expandir programación que alza y informa nuestras comunidades latinas locales. Visita CTPublic.org/latino para más reportajes y recursos. Para noticias, suscríbase a nuestro boletín informativo en ctpublic.org/newsletters.

The independent journalism and non-commercial programming you rely on every day is in danger.

If you’re reading this, you believe in trusted journalism and in learning without paywalls. You value access to educational content kids love and enriching cultural programming.

Now all of that is at risk.

Federal funding for public media is under threat and if it goes, the impact to our communities will be devastating.

Together, we can defend it. It’s time to protect what matters.

Your voice has protected public media before. Now, it’s needed again. Learn how you can protect the news and programming you depend on.

Related Content
Connecticut Public’s journalism is made possible, in part by funding from Jeffrey Hoffman and Robert Jaeger.