The Amazon Labor Union (ALU) has just won the first round against Amazon of what promises to be a lengthy legal battle. Last week, a National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) official who conducted a twenty-four-day hearing on Amazon’s objections to the union’s win in Staten Island issued a report stating that the union should be certified. The regional director will issue a formal ruling based on this report. Sadly, the ALU’s victory does not mean that Amazon will now come to the bargaining table. The company has already announced it will appeal.

None of this is surprising. The ALU won the election by more than five hundred votes. It is very hard to overturn a margin that big. Amazon did not expect to win, and indeed winning was not their goal. Delay was their goal, and by filing twenty-five essentially bogus allegations they bought more than five months of delay.

After the regional director issues a decision, Amazon will appeal to the board in Washington. It will most likely lose there as well. They will then appeal to a federal court of appeals. It should also lose there. But Donald Trump’s administration successfully appointed many right-wing judges who care little about the lives of working people and know even less about labor law. Nonetheless, even in the federal courts, winning is not Amazon’s goal. Once again, delay is the goal.