After ambitious start, unionization spins its wheels at Amazon facilities

Union organizers scored a landmark victory in April when workers voted to form Amazon’s first union at the company’s largest warehouse on Staten Island, NY, but since then three efforts to unionize other facilities — one in Alabama and two more in New York — fell short on votes. Time will tell if the burst of pro-union enthusiasm at Amazon, Starbucks, REI and other retailers was fueled mostly by COVID-era discontent and if the subsequent response from management to raise pay and improve benefits has quelled the activism for the long-term.