Labor board tosses Amazon objection to union vote

The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Thursday recommended that tech giant Amazon’s objections to votes by the Amazon Labor Union (ALU) be blocked.

“I conclude that the Employer’s objections be overruled in their entirety,” wrote the NLRB hearing officer, according to documents posted by ALU President Christian Smalls.

The report continues: “The Employer has not met its burden of establishing that Region 29, the Petitioner, or any third parties have engaged in objectionable conduct affecting the results of the election.”

Region 29 of the NLRB initially held the election to decide whether the ALU would officially represent fulfillment center employees working at Amazon’s JFK8 building. The company’s dispute was transferred to Region 28 of the board after Amazon claimed that Region 29 displayed questionable conduct in the election.

The election, which took place in March, found that employees voted to be represented by the ALU by a margin of 10.8 points.

Amazon spokeswoman Kelly Nantel told The Hill that “We strongly disagree with the conclusion and intend to appeal.”

“As we showed throughout the hearing with dozens of witnesses and hundreds of pages of documents, both the NLRB and the ALU improperly influenced the outcome of the election and we don’t believe it represents what the majority of our team wants,” she said.

The ALU praised the decision, with Smalls calling it “a great day for Labor.”

“While we are pleased with her findings, the Amazon workers in the ALU understand that this is just the beginning of a much longer fight,” the ALU said of the NLRB officer’s recommendation.

The statement added: “It is our hope that the Regional Director for Region 28 can expedite our certification and that the NLRB enforces Amazon’s legal obligation to negotiate with the workers of the ALU.”

Updated: 9:15 a.m.