NEW YORK (880 WCBS) -- Workers at the JFK8 Amazon fulfillment center on Staten Island voted to form the company's first United States union on Friday, and organizers are already pushing to open contract negotiations with the mega-corporation.
Christian Smalls, the president of the Amazon Labor Union, said he hopes to start negotiations in early May.
"It is our sincere hope that we can begin a constructive dialogue with our employer and that the process will result in greatly improved working conditions for Amazon workers," said the union in a statement.
The union demanded that Amazon maintain workers' terms of employment in the weeks leading up to negotiations and said union representation should be present for any disciplinary discussion.
Amazon indicated the company might push back on the results of the election on the grounds that the National Labor Relations Board inappropriately influenced the outcome.
"We're disappointed with the outcome of the election in Staten Island because we believe having a direct relationship with the company is best for our employees," said Amazon in a statement. "We're evaluating our options, including filing objections based on the inappropriate and undue influence by the NLRB that we and others (including the National Retail Federation and U.S. Chamber of Commerce) witnessed in this election."
