The Amazon Labor Union, which represents the internet giant's workers at its JFK8 warehouse on Staten Island, New York, voted overwhelmingly to ally with the International Brotherhood of Teamsters on Tuesday.

The vote was decided by a 98.3 percent majority in favor of the affiliation, adding 5,500 ALU workers to the Teamsters' total of 1.3 million members, the latter labor group announced. This was in spite of efforts by Amazon to get ALU members to vote no, with the Teamsters claiming the online souk threatened employees that oversaw the vote and even called the police on staff on multiple occasions.

"Having the support of 1.3 million Teamsters to take on Amazon gives us tremendous worker power and the opportunities to demand better conditions for our members," ALU founder and president Chris Smalls said. "And, most importantly, to secure a contract at JFK8."

President of the Teamsters Sean O'Brien was similarly bullish, adding: "As long as Amazon exploits and abuses workers, this corporate bully will have to answer to the Teamsters and ALU, standing together."

Since its founding in April 2021, the ALU has seen a decent amount of success against the tech titan that employs its members. In 2022, JFK8 warehouse workers voted in favor of joining the union by a ten-point margin, an outcome Amazon tried and failed to overturn.

The ALU doesn't have an unbroken streak of victories, as another Staten Island Amazon warehouse, LDJ5, voted against joining the union by a hefty 24 points. LDJ5 is notably smaller than JFK8, having just 1,500 workers at the time of the vote.

However, the ALU-Teamsters local chapter, termed Local 1, may have an easier time getting more warehouse workers into the union since it has jurisdiction over the whole of New York City.

The Register reached out to the ALU and Amazon for further comment. ®

https://www.theregister.com//2024/06/18/amazon_union_teamsters/