Amazon notches win in election to decide if staff can join retail union
Amazon.com Inc. clinched a victory in a historic election to determine whether workers at its warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., will become the first in the U.S. to join a retail union.
With disputed ballots yet to be reviewed, Amazon had 1,798 no votes, a clear majority of the 3,215 ballots cast. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union had 738.
With Amazon already well ahead in the tally on Thursday, the union pledged to appeal the result.
In a Friday statement, the RWD SU confirmed it would file complaints with the National Labor Relations Board accusing Amazon of violating employees' rights in the election and asking the agency to consider overturning the result.
“We won't rest until workers' voices are heard fairly under the law,” RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum said. “When they are, we believe they will be victorious in this historic and critical fight to unionize the first Amazon warehouse in the United States.”
Citing documents obtained via a Freedom of Information Act request, the RWDSU accused the company of “corrupting the election” by pressuring the U.S. Postal Service to install a mailbox on Amazon property in an effort to make employees to cast their ballots there rather than someplace more free of company surveillance. Employees have also said that Amazon used mandatory group meetings and one-on-one discussions to predict harmful consequences if they unionized.
Amazon has said that it hosted “information sessions” so employees could “understand the facts” about unionization, and told the Washington Post that the mailbox was a “simple, secure, and completely optional” way to make voting easier. The company declined to comment on Appelbaum's accusations.
A RWDSU victory in Bessemer could eventually force Amazon into contract talks with the union, which is focused on improving working conditions for warehouse employees. The company notes that its Us$15-an-hour starting wage is more than double the federal minimum and that it pays health benefits.
Amazon's sales and profit soared during the pandemic when millions of shoppers stampeded online.
The outbreak put a spotlight on the safety and working conditions of essential workers at supermarkets, big-box stores and online fulfilment centres.