Amazon Workers Vote to Unionize

The Amazon Labor Union, the labor group at Amazon’s JFK8 facility in Staten Island, obtained a majority vote in favor of unionizing. The group voted 2,654 to 2,131 in favor of organizing. According to National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), over 57% of the eligible 8,300 voters cast ballots.

Andy Jassy, the new CEO who took over from Jeff Bezos in July 2021, is now facing pressure form labor activists as they are clearly showing up in full force to demand more job security, better pay, and overall better conditions. By the looks of it, that man is going to have to ANSWER.

In addition to a successful vote in the aforementioned JFK8 in Staten Island, there is an additional vote at the LDJ5 location, which employs ~1,500 employees that will take place the week of April 25th. Andy Jassy is in for a rude awakening.

The push for unionization has come in full force over the past 6 months. A Starbucks in Buffalo recently became the first unionized location when they had voted in favor of unionization back in December 2021. Since then, several other locations across the U.S. have been successful in that same endeavor.

Amazon’s stock was flat in Friday’s trading session in response to the news. The stock has faced tremendous selling in the advent of the New Year, and just recently exploded in response to the company’s plan to split their stock, and deploy the good ‘ole stock buyback. Maybe the plan to buyback more stock was to incentivize labor union groups within the company to actually follow through. Who knows, though.

Conditions at Amazon’s facilities are ostensibly bad enough to warrant unionization. Amazon is the second largest private employer in the U.S., just behind Walmart. Amazon currently provides healthcare benefits, 401(k) options, tuition reimbursement options, and not to mention that their starting pay is more than double the current minimum wage. That doesn’t sound all that bad, but I’ve clearly never worked on an Amazon floor. By virtue of labor formation groups, it’s probably not the greatest.

It’s clear that Andy Jassy has some serious work to do and likely more headaches ahead of him. He’s facing a Biden administration which has been outspokenly pro-union formation. Rising inflation, higher operating costs, and a tight labor market are likely to also add on diminishing returns for the company. Will they be able to weather the storm? Only time will tell. What we do know for certain is that July 2021 was probably a pretty good time for Bezos to get out. In Bezos We Trust(ed).