When Amazon opened a warehouse in Garner, North Carolina, almost five years ago, Mary Hill was excited to snag a full-time job helping her neighbors get essentials during the
Hill and other organizers won the right to hold a
"The word I like to use is 'disillusioned,'" she said of her job packing customer orders. "I thought Amazon was a great place to work, but then I realized it's really just a sweatshop."
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Garner, a community of 40,000 just south of Raleigh, is the backdrop for the latest attempt by workers to unionize the nation's second-largest private employer. Voting is scheduled to end Friday, after which the National Labor Relations Board will count the ballots.
Victory is hardly assured. North Carolina had the lowest union membership rate in the country last year at 2.4%, well below the national average of 9.9%, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Amazon pay of as much as $19 an hour is in line with other blue-collar jobs in the region, which is home to three major research universities and a well-paid workforce.
A 15-year hiring spree has made Amazon a tempting target for unions eager to claw back some of their bargaining power. Forty years ago, more than one in five U.S. workers belonged to a union — twice as many as today. Amazon's growth in transportation and warehousing has undermined one of organized labor's remaining private-sector footholds, prompting the International Brotherhood of Teamsters to target the company.
"We've always said that we want our employees to have their voices heard, and we hope and expect this process allows for that," Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards said in an emailed statement. "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."
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U.S. unions have notched only two big victories at Amazon, and both occurred in places were labor still holds some sway. In 2022, workers at a Staten Island warehouse voted to join the Amazon Labor Union, another upstart that has since affiliated with the Teamsters. New York's union membership rate of 20.6% is second only to Hawaii's. Last month, workers at an Amazon-owned Whole Foods Market in Philadelphia voted to be represented by the United Food and Commercial Workers International Union. Pennsylvania's union membership rate is higher than the national average at 11.7%.
Amazon has prevailed in two union elections at a facility in Bessemer, Alabama, which the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union is trying to organize. Alabama's union membership rate, at 6.6%, is well below the national average. A NLRB judge ruled a third election should be held following allegations of company misconduct during the votes in 2021 and 2022. Amazon has denied any wrongdoing.
Hill said her group has communicated with the Amazon Labor Union for tips on how to win and also reached out to workers in Bessemer to absorb lessons from their loss. Organizers also likened their campaign to the civil rights movement in an effort to make their efforts resonate.
Even if her group wins, Hill knows the fight with Amazon will probably last years. After all, the workers in Staten Island still lack a contract.
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Meanwhile, the Trump administration has forced out two top leaders at the NLRB, which is responsible for enforcing most private-sector U.S. employees' right to unionize or take collective action. Already, Amazon is citing the firings in an effort to invalidate the Whole Foods vote.
Hill said Amazon workers in Garner include transplants from New York and other states where unions are more common, a factor that she says helped spread awareness about the benefits of organizing.
"We've all been frustrated with management at one point," Hill said. "There's always some common ground we can come together on."
