Amazon union push falls short at North Carolina warehouse

Amazon workers voted overwhelmingly against a bid to unionize their North Carolina warehouse, the National Labor Relations Board said Saturday, the latest setback in labor organizing efforts at the ecommerce giant.

Workers at the RDU1 fulfillment center in Garner, outside Raleigh, voted 2,447-829 against unionizing with Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, or CAUSE, an upstart union founded by warehouse workers in 2022.

Organizers at the warehouse, which employs more than 4,000 people, sought starting wages of $30 an hour. The current pay range is about $18 to $24, Amazon said. The union also demanded longer lunch breaks and increased vacation time.


In a statement, leaders of CAUSE said the election outcome was the result of Amazon's "relentless and illegal efforts to intimidate us." They did not say whether they would challenge the outcome but vowed to keep trying to organize.

Eileen Hards, a spokesperson for Amazon, said in a statement: "We're glad that our team in Garner was able to have their voices heard, and that they chose to keep a direct relationship with Amazon."

Leading up to the election, the worker-led union filed charges with the labor relations board accusing Amazon of interfering with employees' protected union activity. The company gave preferential treatment to workers who did not support the union, according to the charges filed by CAUSE. Amazon also unfairly fired the cofounder of the union one week before workers filed for a union election in December, CAUSE said in a filing.

Amazon denied any election interference. Employees have the choice of whether to join a union, and the company talks "openly, candidly and respectfully" about unionization, Hards said before the vote. She said the CAUSE co-founder had been fired for "repeated misconduct that included making derogatory and racist comments to his co-workers."

Addressing demands voiced by the union, Hards said the company already offered safe workplaces, competitive pay, industry-leading benefits and consistent scheduling.

On top of what they characterized as resistance from the company, organizers at the warehouse faced an environment in the South that has historically been hostile to unions. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, union membership in North Carolina last year was 2.4%, the lowest rate in the country and far below the national average of 9.9%.