Amazon Workers Reject Union Again

Some commentators and advocates have maintained that recent union elections at several Amazon facilities in Alabama, New York and New Jersey are harbingers of a resurgence of union representation, either at Amazon or more broadly among American workers. The results indicate otherwise. Although a majority of workers at one Amazon warehouse in Staten Island voted for the locally created new union of disaffected co-workers, the voters in Alabama and now this week in another New York location rejected union representation. In New Jersey, the union withdrew its election petition. Actually, this should not be a surprise. Union organizing is successful when extensive grass roots efforts at particular locations persuade employees based on pre-existing dissatisfactions. That situation existed in one -- and only one -- of the New York Amazon warehouses. In addition, many Amazon workers relate that they are either happy or satisfied with their jobs, even if they may not like all company policies. Local success does not yield a national trend.