Amazon workers are gearing up to unionise in a second US warehouse, as big name brands continue to feel the sting of impending collective action stateside.
Around 1,500 eligible workers at a New York based sorting centre started voting in a union election today, with a ballot count taking place at the end of this week.
The news comes after the ecommerce giant failed to stifle union sentiment, with the Amazon workers winning their battle to form the first US union, Amazon Labor Union (ALU) earlier this month.
It is understood that Amazon has spent millions in hiring union avoidance consultants. Earlier this month, City A.M. reported that Amazon was also gearing up to ban the word “union” and other key phrases from its internal staff messaging app.
Amazon spokeswoman Barbara Agrait told City A.M. at the time: “This particular program has not been approved yet and may change significantly or even never launch at all”.
“If it does launch at some point down the road, there are no plans for many of the words called out to be screened”, she added.
However, it isn’t just Amazon that is facing the cry of unions. Wall Street forecasts that Starbucks will continue to invest in anti-union sentiment.
According to CNBC, more than 200 of the coffee chain’s locations have filed paperwork to unionise since the petition to the National Labor Relations Board was raised last summer.
Whilst this number rather pales against Starbucks’ 9000 US stores, the ongoing trend shows momentum behind action and continues to cause anxiety for coffee shop execs.
Sam LaGow, a Starbucks employee at the unionised reserve roastery in Manhattan, told the Guardian that the reason behind action was rooted in working conditions and shifting mindsets.
“Since Covid, we’ve seen an almost exponential increase in our responsibilities at the roastery, and with this has come no commensurate compensation for it”, he said.
Meanwhile, tech giant Apple is also facing recent calls in its Grand Central Station store, with a group of staff known as Fruit Stand Workers United gearing up for a union election
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