Appeal to Union Victory in New York Rejected

A federal labor official has ruled that Amazon.com Inc. employees can form a union. This is a victory for workers at the company who have been pushing for better working conditions and pay.
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The workers in Staten Island, N.Y. have rejected an appeal by the e-commerce giant, which tried to challenge last year's vote to organize.
Cornele Overstreet, a regional director with the National Labor Relations Board, has ruled that Amazon hasn't provided sufficient evidence to overturn the election results, according to an NLRB spokeswoman.
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The company has said that the union intimidated employees and used other inappropriate methods in order to sway voters. Workers who were employed at the Staten Island warehouse voted to form the company’s first U.S. union last April.
An Amazon spokeswoman said in a written statement that the company will appeal the decision, adding that it doesn't believe the election process "was fair, legitimate, or representative of the majority of what our team wants."
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Chris Smalls, president of the Amazon Labor Union, said in a tweet that it is time for Amazon to sign a union contract with workers.
In his ruling, Mr. Overstreet said he agreed with a recommendation from a hearing officer in September that the company hadn’t met the burden of proof required to overturn election results or have the vote to be held again. Amazon and union organizers participated in weekslong testimony about the election before the hearing officer’s recommendation. Mr. Overstreet’s ruling means Amazon must start bargaining with the union over a contract, the NLRB spokeswoman said.
Amazon has said that both the union and the NLRB regional office that oversaw the vote created an unfair playing field for the election. It has said that union organizers threatened employees to vote in favor of the union, trespassed on its property, and took other questionable actions to influence the voting. It also took issue with legal actions that the NLRB made against the company during the election, accusing it of unlawfully firing a Staten Island worker. The Staten Island election case was moved to a different NLRB region after Amazon’s appeal.
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The Amazon Labor Union has said that Amazon's appeal was a stalling tactic to avoid bargaining with workers on a contract. Mr. Overstreet's ruling against Amazon means that the union is certified as the representative for workers at the Staten Island warehouse.
Although Amazon can contest Mr. Overstreet's ruling to the NLRB governing board in Washington, D.C., the company may eventually have to bring the case to court, labor attorneys say. Andy Jassy, Amazon's chief executive officer, said last year that he believed the case is "going to take a long time to play out."
The vote to establish the first union inside Amazon in the U.S. was a significant moment for labor activists who had been targeting Amazon as a company ripe for organizing. This vote showed that change is possible, and it will hopefully inspire other workers to stand up for their rights.
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The union has had more difficulty organizing workers outside of Staten Island, as Amazon has spent millions of dollars countering its efforts. The Amazon Labor Union has lost two other elections in New York state. A majority of workers at a company site in Bessemer, Ala., also voted against unionizing.
Workers have continued to protest against the company, with employees at several facilities striking in recent months. In November, a federal judge ordered Amazon to stop retaliating against workers who were organizing at the Staten Island facility that unionized. Amazon last year fired some employees at the site following the vote. The company said those firings happened after it evaluated operations and leadership there.