Organizers and workers are making the final push in Amazon’s first union warehouse election in the United States in Bessemer, Alabama, which, if successful, would be one of the biggest job victories in the United States in decades.
The struggle to form a union with the hugely profitable technology and retail giant has sparked immense political interest and boosted labor rights in the front pages of the United States, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, when warehouse workers trade online have become an essential workforce.
Workers’ ballots must arrive at the National Labor Relations Board’s regional office in Alabama by March 29 for them to be counted. A majority of the votes cast determine the outcome of the election, with about 5,800 employees eligible to vote.
Ballots for the election went out to workers on February 8th. The National Labor Relations Board denied Amazon’s attempts to delay voting and force a face-to-face election.
The union effort has received several endorsements, including a video posted by President Joe Biden stating his support for workers’ right to organize unions, endorsements from several members of Congress, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Republican Senator Marco Rubio, unions such as the NFL Players Association, the MLB Players Association, Black Lives Matter support and various local organizations.
Darryl Richardson, a selector who helped start the union organization after contacting the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store union last year, stressed that broad support for the unionization effort has helped significantly.
“It made a big difference because we had a lot of employees who didn’t understand or know anything about the union or what the union could bring to the company. With the help of everyone who supported us, it changed people’s ideas about how to vote, ”Richardson said.“ You had employees undecided about it, confused about it, who would vote ‘no,’ but now the tables and many things came up that said they would vote “yes.”
The unionization effort in Alabama has broadened broader discussions about Amazon’s role in growing wealth and income inequality in the U.S. and the racial justice issues that have been further exposed during the coronavirus pandemic. Union organizers estimate that 85% of Alabama warehouse workers are black. Of Amazon workers in the U.S., 27% are black.
On March 17, the U.S. Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on the crisis of income inequality and wealth in America, where Jennifer Bates, a worker at Bessemer Amazon’s warehouse, noted during her testimony : “We, the workers, made billions for Amazon. I often say that we are the billionaires, we just don’t spend it. “
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos declined the invitation to participate in the hearing.
According to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, Amazon’s profits have increased by $ 9.4 billion since 2019 and Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos has seen its net worth increase by nearly $ 68 billion. The report noted that Amazon could have quintupled the risk pay it provided to workers during the pandemic and still surpass 2019 earnings.
Sara Nelson, international president of the Vol-CWA Assistants Association, was one of the highlights of the union organizing base in Bessemer during the union elections. He noted that Amazon’s union elections in Alabama have broader connotations for the entire American labor movement and the dignity of workers.
“They’ve turned their eyes around the world to Bessemer, Alabama, and there’s a lot of pride,” Nelson said. “A new era of organization is beginning. Whether they get the vote in this election or not or not, they have already won because they have sown in the consciousness of working people everywhere who feel they have no respect for where they live and work and are not happy where they are, that they don’t have to take it and they really have a way of fighting ”.
Amazon has been strongly opposed to unionization in the United States for years, successfully crushing previous unionization attempts in the United States, although it has not faced a full-scale organizational effort at the Bessemer warehouse.
Richardson and other Amazon workers involved in the union’s organizational effort have been fighting for months against an aggressive anti-union campaign by Amazon.
Amazon invests nearly $ 10,000 a day plus spending on anti-union consultants for union elections, as workers face regular captive audience meetings that encourage workers to vote against the union, have been flooded with text messages, advertisements, leaflets, anti-union posters around the store and an anti-union website was launched. More recently, during the election, a USPS mailbox was installed in the warehouse and instructions were sent to workers on how to vote in opposition to the union.
A report from the Institute for Economic Policy in December 2019 found that employers are accused of violating federal law in more than 54% of union elections with large bargaining units and that U.S. employers spend approximately $ 340 million. dollars annually in consultants specializing in union avoidance.
Amazon’s anti-union arguments have frequently cited the company’s $ 15 minimum wage and have stated that the company already offers everything a union would provide, with an emphasis on union dues. A recent New York Times report noted that Amazon’s starting salary at $ 15 per hour is about $ 3 less than the average salary in the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area, and that workers at nearby warehouses are handcuffed. ‘unionized work receive a higher remuneration.
“I really feel like we’re going to win,” Richardson added. “If the union enters, power will be divided and people will have a voice. You’ll have someone to represent you to make sure they don’t fire you just to make sure they treat you fairly, work in a safe environment, and that promotions are fair. Union can make a difference. “