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Amazon workers at an Alabama warehouse move closer to holding an organizing vote, laying the groundwork for establishing the first-ever union representation at a U.S. Amazon facility.
Workers at an Amazon distribution center in Bessemer, Alta., Outside Birmingham, informed the National Labor Relations Board last month that they were planning to hold an election to create a represented bargaining unit by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union. The NLRB said Thursday it found “sufficient demonstration” to allow a vote, dismissing Amazon’s claims that the union had not garnered enough support.
In a hearing on Friday, Amazon and the union continued to disagree on the size of the potential bargaining unit and which employees should have the right to vote. The hearing also aims to clarify details such as when a union vote will take place and how it will unfold. The hearing may take several days to resolve.
“The parties to this case have divergent positions on certain job classifications as to whether these employees should be included or excluded from an appropriate bargaining unit,” said Terry Combs, assistant regional manager for the region. Atlanta from the NLRB.
To get the green light for an election, the NLRB typically wants 30% of workers to sign authorization cards or union petitions. In its petition, the union said the bargaining unit would cover 1,500 full-time and part-time workers at the facility.
Amazon argued in documents submitted to the NLRB that the facility employs more than 5,700 people, suggesting the union has collected fewer signatures than it needs to move forward with an election.
It is not known how Amazon arrived at this total. Amazon said in a 2018 announcement that it would employ 1,500 people at the facility.
Heather Knox, an Amazon spokesperson, said Amazon has created more than 5,000 full-time jobs in Bessemer, with an average wage of $ 15.30 an hour, healthcare and others advantages.
“We don’t think this group represents the majority of our employees’ views,” Knox said in a statement. “Our employees choose to work at Amazon because we offer some of the best jobs available anywhere we hire, and we encourage anyone to compare our overall salary, benefits and work environment to that of any other company with similar jobs. . “
A spokesperson for RWDSU declined to comment.
Unions organized some of Amazon’s European workforce, but no American facility has succeeded in forming or joining a union. A successful union campaign in Alabama would represent revolutionary change for the nation’s second-largest employer, which has more than 1.37 million frontline workers at Amazon and Whole Foods in the United States.
The organizing push in Alabama comes as Amazon has experienced growing unrest within its warehouse and delivery workforce during the pandemic. In recent months, some employees have demonstrated to demand safer working conditions, created online petitions to draw attention to their concerns and formed new worker groups.
A website advertising the Alabama campaign says a union would help employees advocate for changes to safety, pay, disciplinary procedures and other issues in the workplace.
“Amazon has built decades of increasingly bold and aggressive attacks on workers’ rights that have dramatically eroded union density, harmed working conditions and lowered living standards for many workers. And it doesn’t stop. not, “the website says. “Our union will not back down until Amazon is held accountable for these unsafe labor practices and many more.”
Labor experts say the hearing is just the start of what will likely be a long way to go for the Alabama workers’ union campaign. Amazon has taken an aggressive stance against unions in the past, clearly voicing its opposition to them with workers.
But it would only take one successful campaign on an Amazon site to inspire others to follow suit.
“If this is successful, I think it will send the message that there is some hope for workers to organize,” said Tom Kochan, professor of industrial relations, labor and employment at MIT. “But it’s a big tough battle because you have to organize one warehouse at a time, which takes huge amounts of resources.”
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