Amazon Awaits Another Union Election In October Pressing For Better Wages, Safety Measures

Amazon.com Inc AMZN prepared for another showdown with activist workers over the upcoming union election at its upstate New York facility near Albany in October, the Wall Street Journal reports.

A group of workers affiliated with the Amazon Labor Union filed for the election in August following a successful union bid in April at a company facility in Staten Island, a borough of New York City.

Union supporters at the Amazon facility named ALB1 sought higher wages and better safety measures at the facility.

Also Read: Unions Take Aim At Apple After Successful Stints At Starbucks, Amazon

Amazon expressed skepticism over sufficient worker support to merit an election while expressing solidarity with the move.

The ALU has pushed to unionize Amazon facilities throughout the U.S. after the union's successful bid at the Staten Island warehouse. 

This effort established the first union inside Amazon's U.S. operations. Some lead organizers were employed at the facility, giving them credibility among workers.

ALU has had mixed results since then. It lost a union election in May at a second Staten Island facility partly because the union did not have strong enough ties with those workers.

Over 150 workers at Amazon's largest air hub in California recently walked off the job to demand higher pay and safety improvement. A group of employees at the San Bernardino facility organized under Inland Empire Amazon Workers United coordinated the move.

The union urged Amazon to hike the base pay rate to $22 an hour, up from $17 an hour.

Federal prosecutors in New York and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration inspected some Amazon warehouses following criticism from lawmakers, regulators, activist groups, and its workers over its treatment of warehouse and delivery employees. 

Price Action: AMZN shares traded lower by 0.02% at $126.81 in the premarket on the last check Wednesday.

Photo from Pixabay