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Amazon lost its bid to postpone a heavily guarded union vote at its Bessemer, Alabama-based warehouse.
Last month, Amazon appealed the National Labor Relations Board’s (NLRB) decision to allow approximately 6,000 warehouse workers to vote by mail if they joined the retail, wholesale, and large-scale union. In its appeal, Amazon asked the NLRB to review aspects of its previous decision and pressed for a face-to-face election, citing flaws in the agency’s definition of what constitutes a coronavirus outbreak.
On Friday, the NLRB denied Amazon’s appeal, saying it did not raise “any substantial issue that would justify its review.”
“The employer’s motion to hold the elections pending review is also denied as debatable,” according to a record.
By denying Amazon’s appeal, the NLRB will allow Amazon workers at the Alabama warehouse to begin voting by mail, as planned, starting next week. Workers will cast their ballots starting Feb. 8. Ballots must be received by the NLRB regional office by March 29, and the board will begin counting the ballots from 10 a.m. CT the next day.
The decision marks the start of what will be the first major unionization effort on Amazon since 2014, when repair technicians at a Delaware warehouse failed to get enough votes to form a union. However, since then, protests related to Prime Day and other events, as well as the coronavirus pandemic, have laid the groundwork for increased organizational efforts among some parts of its workforce across the country.
The unionization effort in Alabama has emerged as a protracted labor battle on Amazon, with the company hiring the same law firm it used to assist in negotiations during the 2014 union push in Delaware.
Amazon has also created a website to announce its position in the Alabama department store union, urging workers to “do it without dues,” referring to the cost of membership when affiliated. to a union. In recent weeks, it has intensified communications with Bessemer warehouse workers about the union, known as BHM1, including holding mandatory meetings, disbursing flyers throughout the facility and sending messages from BHS. text.
In a statement, RWDSU President Stuart Applebaum announced the NLRB’s decision as a victory in the Amazon workers’ struggle to organize and criticized Amazon’s push to hold a by-election as a threat to their health and safety amid the pandemic.
“Once again Amazon workers have won another fight in their effort to win a union voice,” Applebaum said in a statement. “Today’s decision shows that Amazon has long since begun to respect its own employees and allows them to vote without intimidation or interference.”
Amazon representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.