Amazon faces off with union in fight for a second warehouse

NEW YORK (AP) — The startup union that clinched a historic labor victory at Amazon earlier this year is slated to face the company yet again, aiming to rack up more wins that could force the reluctant retail behemoth to the negotiating table.

This time, the Amazon Labor Union and the nation’s second-largest private employer are facing off in the town of Schodack, near Albany, New York. Workers at the warehouse there, which employs roughly 800 people according to Amazon, will finish voting in a union election on Monday. The votes will be tallied Tuesday by the National Labor Relations Board.

“There are also a lot of odds against us, but I think there’s definitely a huge possibility we might win,” said Sarah Chaudhry, an 18-year old who’s been organizing workers since joining the company two months ago. “I can’t jinx it.”

The face-off near the state’s capitol — one of the most unionized metro areas in the country, according to Unionstats.com — marks the third time the ALU is taking on Amazon following its initial win at a Staten Island facility in April. That victory — the first ever for an Amazon facility in the U.S. — came as a surprise even to those sympathetic to the union’s calls for a $30 hourly wage and better working conditions for warehouse workers.

But soon enough, challenges began to appear. A loss at a second, nearby warehouse in May took some wind out of the union’s sail. Fractures were exposed when some prominent organizers left the group.

Elsewhere, the union lost time and resources attempting to cement its lone win. Amazon has accused the ALU and the NLRB’s field office in Brooklyn of tainting the vote. In a quest for a redo election, the company filed more than two dozen objections with the agency, triggering a lengthy process that could take years to...