On December 23rd, worker-activists at the giant RDU1 warehouse in Garner, North Carolina filed a petition with National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) requesting an election to become the first unionized Amazon facility in the South, and only the second in the United States.
The worker-led Carolina Amazonians for Solidarity and Empowerment (CAUSE) launched a massively successful campaign this fall to collect union authorization cards. The NLRB will hold an election once 30 percent of RDU1 workers have signed a card. Amazon has refused to disclose the number of employees at the facility, but CAUSE leaders believe they have easily exceeded the 30 percent threshold of authorization cards.
Workers have signed in big numbers despite an illegal campaign of intimidation by Amazon, which is desperate to keep unions out to continue paying poverty wages and failing to improve dismal work conditions. The trillion dollar company has fired three union activists this year, including CAUSE president Reverend Ryan Brown, and engaged in illegal intimidation, harassment, and surveillance of RDU1 workers [1].
Amazon called the Garner police three weeks ago to arrest three CAUSE activists providing workers with information and free food three weeks ago. CAUSE has been working for three years to organize a union at RDU1.
"We're tired of being treated like we are fungible, being disrespected, and struggling to put food on the table," said Mary Hill, CAUSE co-founder and vice-president.
Even after a recent pay raise, RDU1 workers start at just $18 an hour. Pay is capped at $20.90 no matter how many years a worker has been employed. That's less than half what MIT economists estimate as a living wage of about $42 an hour for an adult with a child in the Raleigh-Cary area [2]. Many RDU1 employees work 60 hour weeks and need second jobs to get by.
Workers receive just one paid half-hour break in a ten-and-half-hour day. They can be fired for failing to meet Amazon's algorithmically-driven scan rates. There is no trained medical staff on site despite an injury rate more than 70 percent higher than at non-Amazon warehouses [3, pg. 7].
"Amazon prioritizes profit over everything else, especially the well-being of workers," said CAUSE president Brown, who worked at RDU1 for three years before being fired by Amazon on December 3rd. "We all appreciate Amazon's fast delivery, but it shouldn't come at the cost of human suffering."
RDU1 management has posted anti-union materials around the warehouse and used "captive audience" meetings where managers make workers listen to pro-Amazon, anti-union propaganda. Yet, worker enthusiasm for the union remains strong as evidenced by how many have have signed authorization cards. CAUSE expects the NLRB to make an announcement soon about the election.
"Nothing moves without us," says Mary Hill, the CAUSE co-founder. "We're going to win the election. It's time."
Know Your Rights
It is illegal for Amazon to even try to find out who has signed a union authorization card. In 2023, the NLRB's Cemex decision increased punishment for companies that commit unfair labor practices, like retaliation or intimidation, during union organizing.
There are rumors that loss prevention said we aren’t allowed to do union activity on the property. That is not true. Employees have the right to share union newsletters and get cards signed as long as we are in the break rooms or parking lot and during break time or between shifts, according to Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act.
On December 6th, RDU1 ordered the arrest of people giving out food and union newsletters on the property. Two people they arrested were volunteers and one was a former employee. They were dropping off food to help current employees collect union authorization cards. Current employees were not arrested. But we ask, what is the difference between UberEats deliveries and our friends dropping off food for the union to give out for free? We are working mandatory overtime and needed the help of our friends. When you pull into RDU1, the sign says “Amazon fulfillment, visitors and associates”. Now Amazon is checking badges for us to get in the parking lot! Don’t quit… organize to make it better!
These materials were first published by CAUSE. The first section is a press release from December 23rd, and the second section is from a December issue of the CAUSE newsletter.
Work Cited
Gordon, Brian. “Head of Union Campaign at NC Amazon Warehouse Fired, Claims Unfair Termination.” News and Observer, 13 Dec. 2024, www.newsobserver.com/news/business/article296862394.html
MIT Living Wage Calculator for Raleigh-Cary, NC. https://livingwage.mit.edu/metros/39580
"In Denial: Amazon's Continuing Failure to Fix Its Injury Crisis." Strategic Organizing Center, Apr. 2023, https://warehouseworkers.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/SOC_In-Denial_Amazon-Injury-Report-April-2023.pdf