(Adds background on vote)
By Doyinsola Oladipo and Jeffrey Dastin
NEW YORK, May 2 (Reuters) – The U.S. National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) on Monday began counting ballots of a union election at an Amazon.com Inc warehouse in Staten Island, New York, where labor organizers hope to build on a historic victory last month.
Workers at the warehouse voted on whether to join the Amazon Labor Union, a new group headed by the online retailer’s former employee Christian Smalls. The NLRB has said it expects to finish counting ballots on Monday.
Votes against unionization have held a steady lead over the course of the early counting, according to a Reuters tally. The NLRB will release the total number of votes at the end of the count.
A majority of workers who cast ballots at another warehouse in Staten Island voted recently to join the ALU, marking the first union victory at an Amazon facility in the United States.
Amazon has filed objections to the result, arguing that labor organizers intimidated workers to vote in their favor, allegations that the union denies. A regional director for the NLRB will hold a hearing concerning Amazon’s objections later this month.
The ALU’s win followed a streak of union victories at Starbucks stores, in what some labor experts have described as a resurgence of worker interest in unions in the United States. (Reporting by Jeffrey Dastin and Doyinsola Oladipo; writing by Julia Love; editing by Chris Reese and Bill Berkrot)
