‘People feel intimidated’: the battle to unionize second US Amazon warehouse

theguardian.com:

Heather Goodall, a 50-year-old Amazon worker, began pushing for a union at her Amazon warehouse just outside Albany, New York, largely because she was alarmed about safety problems – items often fell off the warehouse’s 27-ft-high racks, she said.

“We’ve had packers who had items fall on them. Several complained about concussions,” Goodall said. “You can see wires protruding out. It could cause lacerations. It might take someone’s eyes out.”

In early summer, Goodall turned into a dynamo, fighting for improved safety and a union, asking coworker after coworker to sign pro-union cards seeking a unionization election. She obtained so many signatures that the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) has set a union vote from 12 October through 17, with the vote count set for 18 October.

Goodall is hoping the ALB1 warehouse in Schodack, a dozen miles south of Albany, will become the nation’s second unionized Amazon facility, after workers at an 8,300-employee warehouse in Staten Island, New York, voted to join the Amazon Labor Union in April. The Albany-area workers will vote on whether to join that same independent union, although Goodall says Amazon is fighting fiercely to defeat the union drive.

Kimberly Lane, a coworker who is helping lead the union drive, said: “The biggest issue is wages.” Lane has worked there for two years and makes $16.20 an hour. “Some new hires are starting at $16.35,” she noted, adding: “It’s ludicrous to live on that wage with this cost of living. Some of these workers are the only breadwinners in their household, and they have three children, and to pay for food, gas and car maintenance, the numbers don’t add up.”

“The second big reason people want to unionize is safety,” Lane continued. “It seems that