Amazon workers at RDU1 warehouse in Garner filed for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board last week, seeking to become the second unionized Amazon facility in the United States.
The filing on December 23 followed a three-year organizing campaign by Carolina Amazonians United for Solidarity and Empowerment, or C.A.U.S.E. C.A.U.S.E. ramped up efforts this fall with a push to collect union authorization cards.
At least 30 percent of current RDU1 workers must have signed cards to trigger a union election. While Amazon keeps RDU1’s headcount under wraps—estimates range from 2,000 to 6,000 workers—organizers say they believe they’ve collected well beyond the number of signatures needed.
The NLRB will now review Amazon’s employee list against the signed cards to verify whether an election can proceed. The process typically takes several months.
“Nothing moves without us,” Mary Hill, an RDU1 worker and cofounder of C.A.U.S.E., said in a December 23 release. “We’re going to win the election. It’s time.”
In an email to the INDY, Amazon spokesperson Eileen Hards wrote that Amazon is “very skeptical” that C.A.U.S.E. “has a sufficient number of legitimate signatures to support a petition for election.”
“The fact is,” Hards wrote, “Amazon already offers what many unions are requesting: Safe, inclusive workplaces, competitive pay, industry-leading benefits—including health care on day one, pre-paid college tuition, and a 401k with company match—opportunities for career growth, and more.”
The election filing comes amid mounting tensions at RDU1. Earlier this month, Amazon fired CAUSE president Ryan Brown, citing violations of the company’s anti-harassment policy—a move that organizers view as retaliation for union activities. Days later, Garner police arrested three C.A.U.S.E. supporters who were collecting union cards outside the warehouse during a shift change.
The filing also comes at a moment of heightened labor activity at Amazon facilities nationwide. On December 20, thousands of Amazon delivery drivers launched a six-day strike during peak holiday shipping week, demanding higher pay and better working conditions.
Only one Amazon facility has successfully unionized—JFK8 in Staten Island. Other warehouses have managed to trigger elections but failed to secure enough votes, struggling against aggressive corporate opposition and challenges posed by Amazon’s notoriously high turnover rates.
The timeline for the election at RDU1 could face additional uncertainty given the upcoming presidential transition. During Donald Trump’s previous presidency, companies like Amazon had more favorable conditions for challenging union election results. Even after a successful vote, employers can file objections—as Amazon did at JFK8, where it submitted 25 challenges to the union victory, and at a facility in Bessemer, Alabama, where its objections led to a rerun election and ultimately a failed unionization attempt. With Trump’s NLRB potentially more receptive to such challenges, any post-election disputes at RDU1 could face delays or increased scrutiny.
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