The following statement can be attributed to Hector Figueroa, president of 32BJ SEIU, the largest property service union in the country.

The news that Amazon has decided to cancel its plans to build its second headquarters in New York City is a disappointing development for working people in our city. This is a lost opportunity for Queens and New York on many levels. Of course, the loss of 25,000 direct jobs and many more indirect ones as well as the billions in revenue that the project was expected to bring into our city is unfortunate.

For labor however, this is also a missed opportunity to engage one of the largest companies in the world and to create a pathway to union representation for one of the largest groups of predominantly non-union workers in our country.

As a labor union with members in 11 states and Washington D.C., 32BJ will continue to advocate for family sustaining, union jobs and our union is committed to organizing with working people in New York and other states across the country. We remain supportive of the many efforts to unionize workers in New York, where Amazon will still have thousands of yet-to-be unionized employees who could benefit from union wages, benefits and representation. Union jobs remain the most effective pathway to the middle class for working people in America.

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With nearly 163,000 members in eleven states and Washington, D.C., 32BJ SEIU is the largest property service workers union in the country.