Workers at JFK8, Amazon’s warehouse located in Staten Island, have voted to be represented by the Amazon Labor Union (ALU), making this the first Amazon warehouse to be represented by a union in the United States. From March 25–30, workers at Amazon’s Staten Island “Fulfillment Center” JFK8 voted on whether to join the new labor union. The results were announced on Friday, with 2,654 votes in favor and 2,131 against. The results came as a surprise to many established union leaders and labor experts. At the same time as the vote was occurring in Staten Island, another push to unionize at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama was failing. In contrast to the grassroots approach of the JFK8 movement, the Bessemer push was made by the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union, an established legacy institution dating to the New Deal era of labor activism. ALU organizer Chris Smalls largely eschewed such …