Amazon union vote in Alabama could reverberate locally
This week’s landmark effort to unionize nearly 6,000 workers at an Amazon facility in Alabama begged an obvious question.
What influence might the historic vote have on the south suburbs, considering the company’s vast presence here?
“I think the Alabama drive is a huge inspiration to people everywhere who want better working conditions,” said Roberto Clack, associate director of Joliet-based Warehouse Workers for Justice. “We’d love to see a union come into Amazon in the Southland.”
Amazon operates or is preparing to open enormous fulfillment centers in Markham, Matteson, Monee, University Park and other communities. The e-commerce retailer is Will County’s largest employer, with more than 9,000 workers, according to the Will County Center for Economic Development.
The potential unionization of the Amazon workforce would seem to have significant implications for the south suburbs.
“I think this is a valiant effort that’s going on in Alabama,” Clack said. “We hope to see the same thing happen in the Southland. It’s one of Amazon’s biggest distribution hubs in the country.”
The National Labor Relations Board is counting votes to determine whether 5,805 workers at an Amazon facility in Bessemer, Alabama, will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. Voting ended Monday and results are expected in coming days.
The election is historic because it is the first time a large number of workers at an Amazon facility in the United States has voted on the question of union representation. The vote has drawn national attention from media and political figures from both ends of the partisan spectrum.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Democrat from Vermont, visited workers to express support. Sen. Marco Rubio, a Republican from Florida, wrote an op-ed for USA Today voicing his support for workers. President Joe Biden recorded a video message to show his support for the unionization drive.
Regardless of the outcome
in Alabama, efforts to unionize Amazon workers could spread across the country and into Chicago’s south suburbs, Clack said.
“Win or lose, it’s still significant that there’s an election in one of these places,” Clack said. “Hopefully we’ll be seeing more of these in the future.”
Chicago has played a key role in the labor movement, dating back to the Civil War era. The fight for an eight-hour workday led to deadly violence at Chicago’s Haymarket in May 1886. Collective efforts of protesting workers have led to laws about child labor, workplace safety and other measures.
Despite hard-fought gains, union influence has waned over the years. In 2020, 14.3 million people, or 10.8% of the workforce, belonged to a union, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. There were 2.9 million fewer union workers in 2015 than in 1983, when unions represented 20% of the workforce, the bureau reported.
Some observers say the Amazon vote in Alabama could represent the beginning of a new labor movement. One lesson of the COVID-19 pandemic is that people sometimes take for granted experiences that can suddenly disappear or be restricted. The public health crisis also exposed a lack of protections for employees in some workplaces.
“The big thing lately has been the COVID infections, that’s been the No. 1 concern over the last year,” Clack said of warehouse workers. “I think, rightly so, we call our health care workers heroes. We need to look at warehouse workers as heroes, too. They kept food on our tables. They kept goods in our households.”
Debate about Amazon and its treatment of workers often involves discussions about productivity and profits. Amazon is among the world’s wealthiest companies and has a market value of more than $1.5 trillion, according to multiple media outlets. Founder Jeff Bezos is among the world’s richest individuals, with a personal fortune of nearly $200 billion, according to Forbes and others.
Some have complained that Amazon values productivity more than its workers.
“I think people feel a tremendous amount of pressure in the way that Amazon specifically does surveillance in the workplace and checks people on their efficiency and even has robotics to augment their work and speed up the pace,” Clack said.
Amazon has responded to criticism by saying the company pays its workers at least $15 an hour and provides benefits. The company’s online press center contains stories about testing and vaccinating front-line workers, providing an additional $2.5 billion in pay during 2020, and donating to food banks and other charitable acts.
Locally, the Community Foundation of Will County said Feb. 25 that Amazon donated $500,000 for workforce development and education in the region. The company said it has invested $8 billion in Illinois since 2010 and created more than 36,000 jobs in the state.
“Amazon is committed to being a positive force in the Chicago region and this grant will allow us to invest in workforce development initiatives in Will County that will benefit all of its residents,” Sarah Glavin, Amazon’s Chicago senior manager of external affairs, said in a news release.
Some see the vote in Alabama as a referendum on how Amazon treats its workers. Others see the action as an opportunity for unions to regain momentum in a domestic economy where manufacturing and industry seem diminished.
“Unions created a vibrant middle class,” Clack said.
Steel and railroad tycoons helped build America. They amassed wealth by exploiting labor until workers fought back. America may be reaching another tipping point as wealth disparity becomes more pronounced. Workers voting on whether to join a union at an Amazon facility in Alabama could signal the start of a renewed labor movement.
“There’s no reason people can’t make $30 an hour with benefits and a retirement plan from these jobs,” Clack said. “It’s very inspirational what’s going on.”
At the same time, though, union supporters have tempered expectations about the outcome of the vote.
“We know how hard it is to get these places organized,” Clack said. “No one’s been able to find the key to doing it.”