Amazon accused of interfering in second Alabama union election
Amazon allegedly removed union literature from employee breakrooms and forced workers to attend anti-union meetings
The union trying to organise Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama has filed a new complaint with the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), accusing Amazon of interfering with the revote process, forcing workers to attend anti-union meetings, and tearing down pro-union posters.
The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) claims that Amazon has removed union literature from employee breakrooms. It also alleges that the ecommerce giant has implemented a new rule restricting employees' access to the facility to 30 minutes before and after their shift, limiting their ability to organise.
The union claims that the anti-union meetings that Amazon employees are compelled to attend are coercive, and that employees should have the option to opt out.
The Bessemer union election is being held to decide whether workers at the warehouse want to be represented by the RWDSU. Last year, employees at the facility voted against unionisation, but the NLRB discarded the results after finding that Amazon had improperly influenced the vote.
For example, the NLRB said mail-in votes were corrupted by, among other things, Amazon placing a mailbox on its property. This allegedly gave employees the impression that the company was conducting the election and they were being surveilled if they cast their ballots at the mailbox.
Amazon argued that the mailbox was installed by the US Postal Service for workers' convenience and that a tent shielded workers from cameras.
During the hearing last year, one worker testified that managers at the Bessemer warehouse had warned workers during mandatory meetings that the facility could close if employees voted to unionise.
Amazon spokesman Kelly Nantel told Reuters that the company was confident it had fully complied with the law.
"Our focus remains on working directly with our team to make Amazon a great place to work," she added.
The Amazon unionisation dispute in Alabama isn't the only one in the United States.
Last week, the NLRB ordered a union vote for a fulfilment centre in Staten Island, New York, between 25th and 28th March.
That campaign is being led by an independent group called the Amazon Labor Union. The group is led by a former associate who alleges he was fired for his organising efforts.
Last year's unionisation push in Alabama drew widespread political interest in the United States, with President Joe Biden declaring in a video message that every employee should have the opportunity to join a union.
Biden said there should be no threats, intimidation, coercion or anti-union propaganda from employers, and that no manager should confront workers about their union preferences.
In November, thousands of Amazon workers in various countries protested on Black Friday as part of the 'Make Amazon Pay' campaign. The campaign group included 70 trade unions and organisations, who called for better working conditions at Amazon offices and warehouses, fair wages for employees, and accountability from top executives.
Computing says:
Unionisation has a troubled history in the USA, and has roughly halved in the last 40 years; today only about 11 per cent of US workers, mostly in the public sector, are organised - despite research suggesting that unionisation reduces income inequality. Amazon is not the first private sector corporation to be recorded campaigning against its employees forming or joining a union: a common argument put forward is that unionised workers, by being paid more, take money away from those outside the union and threaten job security.
Unions also influence politics; their support was influential in the election of Barack Obama and Donald Trump. To bring unions back to the Democrats after the Trump era, Joe Biden has promised to be the most pro-union President in history.
The tech sector is one of the least organised in the USA, and unions see it as the next frontier for organised labour.