No talks of unionizing as Fargo Amazon center marks one year anniversary

North Dakota's first Amazon fulfillment center is celebrating one year of operations in Fargo.

FARGO, N.D. (KVRR) — More than 600 employees work at Fargo’s Amazon center which is the largest building in the state at 1.2 million square feet.

They say there haven’t been many obstacles in the first year of operations.

“Over the past year, I think the biggest journey is getting inventory in the facility. Over the past year, we’ve got about 3.3 million unique items that we’ve been able to stow. What’s even cooler than that is we’ve been able to ship out 2.3 million items outside. That means we’ve had 2.3 million customers order something from us and we’ve been able to fulfill that,” General Manager of Fargo Amazon Martin Purdy said.

Purdy says they are always hiring full-time employees.

“We make sure we do what’s right for our employees from a safety perspective. Secondly, you look at volunteerism. People have a connection to the community, they’ve been here for 10 years, they wanna make sure the company they work for is doing the right thing for the community, so really making sure we emphasize that. That’s a differentiating factor for folks, and three we like to have fun,” Purdy said.

Students can get their tuition paid for with no obligation to pursue a career with the company.

It changed one woman’s life when she learned she can go back to school while working at the facility.

“They cover everything. They’re not just specific, like just the engineering program or just, granted, like yes, they want people to grow and to learn in Amazon. If you want to go get a vet tech degree, you can do that too. You’re not obligated to stay on, you’re not obligated for anything. You have to be with the company for 90 days and they’ll allow you to grow and you’ll have no obligation to them,” Fargo Amazon General Manager Administrative Assistant Heather Johnson said.

Amazon employees have started unionizing in warehouses across the country but no talks yet about unions in Fargo’s center.

“Employees have a choice whether or not they want to join a union but as a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees,” Amazon spokesperson Paul Flannigan said.