AMAZON GETS A UNION IT DOESN’T WANT AFTER 27 YEARS
Workers at Amazon's Staten Island facility secured a union with a 2,654 to 2,131 majority. The result is a first for any Amazon warehouse in the US (Amazon’s main honeypot). A feat that took 27 years to come to fruition after several attempts. Amazon is obviously ‘disappointed’, they spent $4.3 Million on anti-union consultants In 2021 alone (for context, they spent $20.3m on lobbying the whole of D.C. in the same period). Looks like they underspent on both fronts.
The Street called the win ‘a violent slap’ for Amazon that sends a message to other tech giants. A sentiment it is hard to disagree with; this is a big deal. Other big tech giants have unions, and different conditions, but Amazon does tend to be the face of employee dissatisfaction. A lot of people believe the lack of unions in the US is what’s causing a lot of issues to do with inequality (fair wages, job security, and safe work environments all intermingle).
Amazon is raising minimum wages in areas (and as we have seen previously), causing other businesses to raise minimum wages too. Some have argued that this practice is as much a symptom of the issue as much as a cure.
Ultimately the win is a bad look for Amazon in the eyes of the world, other employees, Congress etc.
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__ DO __ Think of this as a David vs Goliath case. A single employee turned this situation from zero to massive reform for Amazon. The result is a watershed moment for Amazon and has big ramifications for other companies like Walmart, Uber etc.
// __ DON'T __ Think the battle is over. Time will tell us how Amazon decide to work with the union. While a huge battle was won by the union, the war was not lost by Amazon.
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