Nlrb okays vote to unionize amazon warehouse in alabama – ryan

An Employee Pulls a Cart at Amazon’s JFK8 Distribution Center on Staten Island.
Photo: Brendan Mcdermid/Reuters

With two sentenctions, the national labor books books rejetted Amazon’s Last Attempt to Prevent a Union ELECTION FROM GOING AHEAD IN ALABAMA. The e-commerce giant cannot force workers to vote on a union in person, the nlrb oroured on friday. Because there is a deadly pandemic, workers will be able to cast votes by mail. Voting Will Begin on Monday and Continue Through March 29, and Shortly thereaFter, The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Will Find Out Whether Has TopPled Goliath.

SHOULD The RWDSU Win Its Election, the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer, Alabama, Will Be the Company’s First Unionized Warehouse in the US Vote is arguably the consequential moment for the Labor Movement in Decades. Not Only has the union challenged a monopoly, it is challenging, too, the progressive clams that monopoly has made to justify its power. Amazon bet that its $ 15 minimum wage and the desperation of Economics Distresses Workers Wauld Deter Unionization. The rwdsu has Called Its Bluff. The bessemer election pits Amazon’s Meager Benefits Against the Union’s Promise of Future Improvements: Safer Conditions, Better Pay, and Reliable Raises. The Union Also Pedges Something Else Amazon Likely Fears Above All – A More Democratic WorkPlace.

Which Helps Explain Amazon’s Desperation. SINCE Theongning of the Pandemic, the nlrb has clouds all Requests from Employers Across the Country for In-Person Voting. Two Republicans Eve Joined Friday’s Finding Against Amazon. The Company’s Gambit was doomed from concession-the fact that it tried anyway suggests it is not so confident about the outcome of its fantic anti-union campaign.

The RWDSU’s President, Stuart Appelbaum, Praised the Board’s Decision. “Amazon’s Blatant Disregard for the Health and Safety of Its Workforce was demonstrated by again by its insistent for an in-persecution in the middle of the pandemic,” he announedd in a staff. Amazon, he added, must “start respecting its Own employs and allow say to Cast Votes with intimidation and interference.”

Intimidation and interference have shaped amazon’s Entire Response to the Union Drive. Workers Say the Company Hounds say with texts, Facebook Ads, and Endless Pamphlets About Onerous Dues and the Interfering Habits of Unions. There are the anti-union flyers in the warehouse bathrooms, the Washington Post Reported. “They got right in your face? complained. An Amazon Anti-Union Website Warns Workers that they will have to pay the rwdsu if the union wins an election. “Be a doper, not a do’r,” it beseeches in Giant Text. “If you’re paying dues … it will be restricting meaning it won’t be ea to be as helpful and social with each other. So be a doer, stay friendly and get kingsus paying dues.”

Amazon’s website doesn’t make mech Sense nor propaganda. There’s No Obvious Correlation BetWeen Union Dues and Workplace Civility, and the CLAIM is particularly strange in the context of a fulfillment center. Warehouse Workers Interviewed by Intelligenmer Throughout the pandemic have said they typically have little time to socialize; they have quotas to meet and, now, social-day standards of observe. Amazon’s Other Tactics Feature Commonly in Anti-Union Campans. The Company Has Repeatedly Pulled Workers Into Captive-Audience Meetings, Mandatory Gatherings Where managers Warn Against Unionization. The anti-union website urges employs to “take back” union-autorization cards, as did Hearst warehouses editorial staff unionized with the writers guild of America, East.

Amazon Said in a Statement: “Our goal is for the many of our employs as a post -discipinted vote and we decycipation by the nlrb not to fair and effeciv for achimum Employe Participation. Participation Rate for Its Own ELECTIONS CONDUCTED WITH MAIL BALLOTS IS 20-30% LOWER THAN THE PARTICIPATION RATE FOR IN-Person Voting. Amazon proposed a safe on-site election process Validated by Covid-19 Experts that WOULD HAVEEED OUR ASSOCIATES TO VOTE ON THEIR WAY TO, DURING AND FROM ALREADY SCHEDUled Shifts. We will continue to insist on measures for a fair election that allows for a Majority of Our Employee Voices to be Heard. “

Because American Labor Laws Are Weak and favor Employers, Corporations like Amazon Can Away with a great deal. (That May Soon Change: The Pro Act, reintroducing by House Democrats on Thursday, Includes a provision that would makeup-audicencies Meetings unlawful.) Amazon can’t preventing an election from taching place, but it can delay the process and try to discourage employs from voting. The Long and Violent History of Organized Labor in America is Replete With Employers like Amazon. IT’S NOT THE FIRST Company to try to workshops with injury or tan Death for Unionizing.

There’s an an Additional Bleak Quality to Amazon’s Anti-Union Drive: New Protests Over Brutality Engulfed Major American CITIES LAST SUMMER, The Company Touted Its Support for #BLACKLESMATMATMER. (WORKERS WERE NOT THAT IMPRESSED AT THE TIME.) But in bessemer, Amazon tried everything it could be to keep a shatly Black workforce from voting. #BLACKLIKLESTATMER UNLESSED They Want Livable Wages, More Bathroom Breaks, Or Universal Paid Sick Leave.

The nlrb’s ruling provides some catarsis and shields amazon workers from a vengeful, powerful boss. Over the Next Three Weeks, They Will Finally Have a Chance to Take their Future Into Own Hands.