An independent group of workers at an Amazon warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, are seeking to form the second unionized warehouse at Amazon in the US.
Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment (Cause) filed to hold a union election at the warehouse, which, despite Amazon claiming they were “very skeptical” the group would have enough legitimate signatures for the petition, was approved by the National Labor Relations Board.
The election to represent 4,300 workers at the 700,000 sq foot warehouse in the suburbs of Raleigh is scheduled to be held from 10 to 15 February.
The union has been organizing since early 2022 at the warehouse, pushing for better pay, improved paid time off, better scheduling, improved accommodations for workers with injuries or disabilities, and respect on the job.
The Rev Ryan Brown, a co-founder of the group, who worked at the warehouse for five years until he was terminated in December, explained he was inspired by seeing Amazon workers such as Jennifer Bates publicly speak out during the first union election at Amazon in the US in 2021 at a Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse. Those workers came up short in a vote and a re-run election, but another re-run election has been ordered by a judge due to Amazon’s misconduct.
In early 2022, Brown said he spoke out against being ordered to work in a department in the warehouse known for Covid-19 outbreaks, and began speaking with a co-worker with similar concerns about the workplace. They decided to start organizing for improvements.
The group faced significant challenges, especially as a grassroots organization in a “right-to-work” state, where employees can receive full union representation without paying union dues. He said assistance from the Southern Workers Assembly and Black Workers for Justice in North Carolina had been pivotal in getting the union vote organized.
“Growing up in North Carolina, I knew very few people that belonged to a union. I know very few people that I will have a conversation with that could tell you anything about a union,” Brown explained.
Despite North Carolina having one of the lowest union densities, in the US, at 2.7% in 2023, Brown said communities in North Carolina such as his had significant organizing experience, though it is based in the church.
“Growing up in the rural south, I realized that my church was the epicenter of most people’s lives,” added Brown. “The other challenge, the most important challenge to us is Amazon is such a terrible employer, that you can inoculate folks, educate folks, and either they quit or they’re terminated. And so that’s where we were inspired to start the theme about organizing, ‘don’t quit, organize.’”
Brown was ultimately fired after a verbal altercation he had outside the Amazon warehouse during the Thanksgiving holidays. Brown, who is Black, disputes Amazon’s characterization of the incident. The company also fired two additional workers leading in union organizing at the site last year, with Amazon denying any retaliation.
“They painted me to be this angry, racist Black man,” claimed Brown.
An Amazon spokesperson, Eileen Hards, said in response to Brown’s termination, “while we don’t normally discuss personnel matters, since Mr Brown has chosen to push misinformation to the media, we’re compelled to share the facts. Mr Brown was terminated for repeated misconduct that included making derogatory and racist comments to his co-workers.”
Brown characterized the union fight as historic, in the sense that workers have always fought back against poor treatment by corporations. He argued this fight was more imperative now given the stark wealth and income inequality in the US and Amazon’s vast presence in industries throughout the economy, and a fight for future generations and the American labor movement as a whole.
“It’s a fight for children, grandchildren, nieces, nephews, because I don’t want them living in an America where you tell your children to do everything right, to go to school, study hard, get an education,” he said. “They want to get out of school, but have so much debt that they already have a house mortgage. You tell them to go find a good job, but even though they’re educated, there are no jobs out there and the jobs that they do find, they don’t provide a living wage where they can be a part of the American dream.
“So our fight is connected with the past, the present and the future. And the preacher in me would like to say that when you look at the historical narrative of Goliath, the bigger they are, the harder they fall. But someone has to start fighting that Goliath.”
Italo Medelius-Marsano, who has worked at RDU1 since 2022 while completing law school, argued the work environment and power disparities between associates and managers at Amazon had incited the push for a union at the warehouse.
“If we do win this one, it’s going to be historic in many ways,” he said. “So if we can win this thing, we would be the first Amazon union in the south, second in the nation, and we already have a lot of strategic insights from the other union drives.”
Hards, the Amazon spokesperson, said: “We’ve always said that we want our employees to have their voices heard, and we hope and expect this process allows for that. We believe our employees favor opportunities to have their unique voice heard by working directly with our team.
“The fact is, Amazon already offers what many unions are requesting: safe, inclusive workplaces, competitive pay, industry-leading benefits – including health care on day one, pre-paid college tuition, and a 401k with company match – opportunities for career growth, and more.”
