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Amazon should recognize its first unionized warehouse in the U.S., a federal labor official has ruled, rejecting the company's bid to unravel a breakthrough union win on Staten Island. 

On Wednesday, the National Labor Relations Board's Region 28 regional director, Cornele Overstreet, dismissed Amazon's allegations that labor-board officers and union organizers improperly influenced the union vote. In the spring, the upstart Amazon Labor Union 

 some 8,000 workers at the massive New York warehouse. 

Wednesday's decision requires Amazon to begin bargaining 

 with the union. However, the company is expected to appeal the ruling before the full labor board in Washington, D.C., which it can request by Jan. 25. Labor experts say members of the board are likely to side with their regional colleagues in confirming the union's win. The case could make its way into courts. 

"I think that's going to take a long time to play out," Amazon CEO Andy Jassy 

, claiming "disturbing irregularities" in the vote.

, where unions have struggled for a foothold as the company's web of warehouses has ballooned, making it the U.S.'s second-largest private employer after Walmart. 

another Amazon warehouse in Shakopee, Minn., are pushing for an election 

on whether to join the Amazon Labor Union, which is run by former and current Amazon workers. And some 400 workers at a warehouse near Albany, N.Y., 

voted 406-206 against unionization in October. 

Earlier last year, Amazon workers at a second, and smaller, Staten Island warehouse 

. And unionization efforts at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama have thus far been unsuccessful. 

On Staten Island, ALU won the first union election by more than 500 votes in 2022. Shortly afterward, Amazon 

The company alleged that union organizers coerced and misled warehouse workers, and that Brooklyn-based labor officials overseeing the election acted in favor of the union. In September, the NLRB attorney who presided over weeks of hearings on the case recommended that Amazon's objections 

Amazon is among NPR's recent financial supporters.

Business and Economic News

Alina Selyukh

Author

Giulia Heyward

Amazon should recognize its first unionized warehouse in the U.S., a federal labor official ruled. 

Amazon loses bid to overturn historic union win on Staten Island warehouse

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