By Greg Bensinger
(Reuters) – Amazon workers in North Carolina voted against joining a union, a big win for the retail giant which has vigorously opposed organized labor at its facilities across the United States.
About three-quarters of voters were opposed, marking a setback for union officials who have long coveted Amazon because of how many industries it touches, including warehousing, trucking, manufacturing and even data processing. A simple majority of voters among the 4,300 workers at the warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, near Raleigh, was necessary to form the union.
The National Labor Relations Board, or NLRB, released the results of this week’s vote on Saturday. Among voters, 2,447 were opposed and 829 were in favor of joining a union.
Amazon has argued that its workers are best served by having a direct relationship with the company rather than through organized labor, while union officials have said improvements in working conditions and wages are only possible through collective bargaining.
The company said in a statement it was “glad” that workers “chose to keep a direct relationship with Amazon.” Union organizers said in a statement that the vote was the result of Amazon’s “relentless and illegal effort to intimidate” workers.
It was the second such vote Amazon faced in as many months, after a majority of workers at a Philadelphia Whole Foods location opted to join a union, the first at the grocery chain. Amazon has asked the NLRB to reject that vote over allegations that union officials coerced and intimidated workers in an effort to win the election. Union officials have denied those allegations, saying they ran fair elections.
Organizers of the upstart Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE) had hoped to form Amazon’s second unionized warehouse following a successful 2022 vote at a facility in Staten Island by another group. Amazon has yet to recognize that union’s legitimacy or negotiate with organizers.
U.S. union membership has been in steady decline. The portion of workers in a union dropped to 9.9% last year from 10% in 2023, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, and 11.1% a decade ago. North Carolina had just 2.4% union membership, the lowest among all states.
“Today’s result is not a surprise,” said John Logan, a San Francisco State University professor of labor and employment studies. “The odds are massively against any group of workers trying to form a union at Amazon,” he said, noting the company’s campaigns of anti-union messaging, among other tactics.
Members of CAUSE said they had hoped to petition Amazon for wages of $30 per hour and longer lunch breaks, among other changes. CAUSE Secretary Italo Medelius-Marsano, a loading dock worker in Garner, told Reuters he estimates he walks 20 miles (32.19 km) or more per shift.
The $18.50 hourly wage at the Garner facility is more than twice North Carolina’s minimum, said Amazon.
As the vote count was underway on Saturday afternoon, CAUSE alleged Amazon improperly forced three workers who had been tasked with livestreaming results to leave. Amazon denied any wrongdoing.
Amazon, in its 2024 annual report, said organized unions decrease its operational flexibility and the company’s resistance could be perceived negatively and harm its business and reputation.
Last year, workers at a facility in Quebec voted to join a union, which would have been just the second win for Amazon in North America. But Amazon this month began dismissing nearly 1,700 workers in the Canadian province, which union officials claim is in retaliation for the union vote. Amazon has said using contractors in Quebec instead of directly employing them would amount to more savings for its customers.
The Seattle-based retailer has been locked in a years-long battle with the NLRB over an unsuccessful union vote in Bessemer, Alabama. Agency officials have alleged management misconduct there and have ordered a third election to be held at that warehouse.
Amazon, meanwhile, is contesting the very existence of the NLRB in a federal lawsuit it filed in September. President Donald Trump fired several top officials at the NLRB, including a board member, hampering its operations.
(Reporting by Greg Bensinger; editing by Diane Craft and Richard Chang)
