Workers at an AutoZone in White Plains, New York, are seeking to become the first store at the US’s largest auto parts retailer to win a union election, set to begin 25 September, despite a heavy-handed union opposition campaign from the company. LaborLab, a non-profit workers’-rights watchdog, estimates AutoZone has spent around $200,000 to oppose the unionization effort at the White Plains store, where 11 workers are eligible to vote to join the United Auto Workers Local 259. The estimate is based on external attorney costs and internal costs of executive salaries based on reports from workers at the store.
AutoZone did not respond to multiple requests for comment. The company has more than 6,800 retail stores in the US and reported a net income of $2.5bn in fiscal year 2025. Nathan DuCongé has worked at an AutoZone store in White Plains, New York, for about two years, where he started as a sales associate making minimum wage.
David Valencia, who also works at the AutoZone store in White Plains, said he began working there in May 2026, and became interested in the union after being scheduled to work the Fourth of July holiday and did not receive any sort of holiday pay or bonus for doing so. According to Indeed, AutoZone only provides paid holidays for eligible full-time employees. We’re not getting close to what we’re worth,” Valencia added.
They’re only going to bargain when you’re together. So we don’t have a choice. Either we’re going to live in poverty and not be able to pay our bills, or we’re going to do this.” DuCongé and Valencia both explained that AutoZone management caught wind of the union organizing drive after they had collected enough union authorization cards to file for a union election with the National Labor Relations Board.
They said the following day, the store became filled with regional and corporate managers and human resources executives. He noted the response from AutoZone was initially asking how they could help, but switched to deterring unionizing after the group issued a letter to management announcing their intent to unionize. They had these long meetings where they would read: ‘Hey, we don’t think that the union is good.
Here’s all the reasons why,’” said DuCongé. He explained that AutoZone threatened to delay the union election by challenging DuCongé’s eligibility to participate, and promoted him to a supervisor position. He says the issue caused the union election petition to be withdrawn initially in late July, then refiled in August.
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