BESSEMER, Alabama (AP) – Some Democratic members of Congress and national union leaders on Friday tried to rally support to syndicate a huge Amazon facility on the outskirts of Birmingham, comparing Alabama workers’ organization campaign to the movement for civil rights.
Voting by mail by nearly 6,000 workers at the extensive distribution facility began in February and lasts until the end of March. It is the largest organizational attempt in Amazon history, which has a large stake for the country’s second-largest employer, which has a history of crushing union efforts in its Whole Foods stores and grocery stores.
The result is critical for Amazon and the organized workforce in general.
If Alabama’s effort is successful, it could spark a chain reaction through Amazon’s operations across the country, with thousands more workers demanding better working conditions and seeking collective bargaining. It would also be seen as a blessing for other historically anti-union labor sectors in the South and beyond.
U.S. Rep. Terri Sewell, whose district at the Alabama convention includes Bessemer’s facilities, welcomed four members of the Democratic House Caucus to draw attention to the vote. Sewell noted that the delegation’s visit comes days before Selma, his hometown, commemorates Bloody Sunday and the 1965 Voting Rights March.
“These workers follow a rich tradition … of crossing against something that is wrong,” Sewell said, echoing some workers ’assertion that Amazon’s working conditions and pay are inadequate.
“The world is watching Alabama win once,” he said. “Birmingham, Bessemer, it’s so important for the world to know that Alabama is once again defending civil and human rights.”
Representatives Nikema Williams of Georgia, Cori Bush of Missouri, Andy Levin of Michigan, and Jamal Bowman of New York traveled to Alabama to meet with Amazon employees and officials from the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union seeking to organize workers .
The group met at union headquarters and also headed to an intersection outside the Amazon complex.
The visit comes ahead of next week’s long-awaited House vote on the PRO Act, a union-driven proposal aimed at strengthening workers ’ability to organize into collective bargaining unions. Lawmakers said they expected the measure to pass in the Democratic-controlled House, but acknowledged it faces an upward battle in the 50-50 Senate, where Republican opposition is enough to prevent the act from getting the 60 votes needed to pass most major legislation.
At the Alabama facility, most 6,000 workers would have to vote “yes” to get organized the installation. Amazon tried, unsuccessfully, to delay voting and demand the vote in person.
The company, which has seen profits and revenues rise during the pandemic, has campaigned hard to convince workers that a union will only cost them money. Company officials say workers are already getting what they are looking for with a union: profits, professional growth, and pay starting at $ 15 an hour.
Others discuss this.
Levin, the Michigan congressman who was once a union organizer, called it “the most important election for the working class in this country of my life.”