Amazon workers in New York warehouse vote to form a union

Workers at an Amazon.com facility in New York City's Staten Island on Friday voted in favor of forming a union, making it the online retailer's first U.S. facility to organize.

Employees at the fulfillment center, known as JFK8, who supported the Amazon Labor Union secured a majority by hundreds of votes for the win.

The vote for unionizing was 2,654 compared to 2,131 voting against, or about 55 in favor, according to a Reuters tally.

There were not enough challenged ballots to affect results.

The victory for organized labor at the second-largest U.S.

private employer is a historic first for the retailing behemoth in the United States and a milestone for labor advocates, who for years have considered Amazon's labor practices a threat to workers.

Union organizer Christian Smalls, dressed all in Amazon Labor Union red, raised a hand in victory after the labor official confirmed the union movement's victory.

In Alabama, by contrast, a majority of Amazon workers rejected unionization, in a still-not final outcome.

The Alabama contest could hinge on 416 challenged ballots to be adjudicated in the coming weeks, which are sufficient to change the result, said the NLRB. The situation is far different from last year when workers sided with Amazon by a more than 2-to-1 margin against unionizing.