Amazon warehouse workers at a facility in Garner, North Carolina, will vote from February 10 to 15, 2024, on whether to join a union, marking another chapter in the company’s ongoing labor challenges. The grassroots organization, Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity & Empowerment (CAUSE), has been advocating for unionization for three years and claims to have garnered support from over 30% of workers at the site, necessary to trigger the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) election. If successful, this would be only the second Amazon warehouse in the U.S. to unionize, following a vote in 2022 at a New York City location, which has since struggled to negotiate a contract.
Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards expressed the company’s commitment to allowing employee voices to be heard and cited RDU1’s competitive starting wage of $18.50 per hour. In recent months, Amazon workers have engaged in strikes at other facilities to urge better working conditions and wages during peak holiday shopping. CAUSE’s push for unionization follows a series of contested union elections at Amazon facilities nationwide, with numerous instances of rejected unionization efforts and disputes over prior election outcomes, including a recent court-ordered rerun election in Alabama.
