Biden provides support for union organizational efforts

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President BidenJoe BidenNoem announces response to South Dakota coronavirus, blocks CPAC speech On The Trail: Cuomo and Newsom: A story of two conflicting governors, Biden celebrates vaccine approval, but warns that “current improvement could reverse “MORE offered his support Sunday to the unions ’organizational efforts as Amazon workers at an Alabama warehouse voted to vote for the union.

In a video posted on Twitter, the president told workers “in Alabama and across America” ​​that they are considering joining a union facing a “vital decision.”

He did not directly mention Amazon, but his video statement was released after nearly 6,000 workers at the Bessemer, Alabama warehouse began voting earlier this month on the option to join the Retail Union , Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). If approved, the union would become the first in Amazon’s operations in the United States.

“I made it clear when I was leading that my administration’s policy would be to support the organization of unions and the right to bargain collectively,” Biden said. “I’m keeping that promise.”

“Let me be clear: it’s not up to me to decide if someone should join a union,” he added. “But let me be even clearer: a businessman doesn’t have to decide either. The choice to join a union is up to the workers: full stop ”.

Biden went on to say that workers should not suffer intimidation, coercion, threats, anti-union propaganda or questions from supervisors about their decision.

Ballots were sent for the unionization vote to Bessemer warehouse workers earlier this month and must be returned to the regional office of the National Labor Relations Board by March 29, CNBC reported.

The Bessemer facility first opened in March 2020, but its workers soon raised concerns about work quotas, low wages and concerns about the lack of protection against COVID-19, issues that go unheeded. raise employees from other Amazon sites.

Alabama warehouse employees began quietly organizing in July before RWDSU officially filed a petition in November.

Amazon did not immediately return The Hill’s request for feedback. But a spokesman previously told The Hill that the union does not represent “the majority of our employees’ views,” highlighting the company’s $ 15.30 starting salary.

According to reports, the online retailer has campaigned against unionization through a website and pamphlets encouraging workers to vote against the effort, according to Vice.

RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum praised Biden’s statement that a union is “the best way to protect working people and their families.”

“And that’s why so many working women and men are fighting for a union at Amazon’s facilities in Bessemer, Alabama,” Appelbaum said in a statement.

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