Amazon has challenged hundreds of ballots in a vote to form a union at one of its Alabama warehouses in a union that is considered one of the most important labor battles in recent U.S. history.
The National Labor Relations Council on Thursday began opening ballot papers and discussing the votes in the election in Bessemer, Alabama.
About 3,215 votes were cast in the election from more than 5,800 eligible employees. The election will determine whether workers in Bessemer will form the first union in an Amazon warehouse in the US.
According to the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, hundreds of ballot papers were challenged, mostly by Amazon.
‘There are hundreds of challenged ballot papers, mostly by the employer, that will have to be addressed after the public count. As the ballot envelopes are opened and the ballots are counted, there is a possibility that more issues could affect the final outcome, ‘the RWDSU said.
The union aroused great political interest and a roster of left-wing politicians – and even some Republicans – expressed their support or visited the state. The American labor movement sees it as a dubious hope to expand its power, especially in areas of the economy – such as online retail – that are increasingly dominant.
Ballot papers can be challenged based on various factors, such as the voter’s election in terms of job classification or dates. The NLRB is likely to hold a later hearing on the validity of the ballot papers cast, after undisputed votes have been counted, if the number of ballot papers challenged could affect the outcome of the election.
The union organized in Bessemer originated from a 51-year-old warehouse worker, Darryl Richardson, who contacted the RWDSU in June last year, with an interest in starting a trade union at the warehouse. Richardson, a former union member in his previous job in the automotive industry, to start the job months earlier, quickly disappeared after seeing employees being laid off due to productivity quotas, and seeing wages lag far behind in the payment he made in received the automotive industry.
Richardson and other workers managed to obtain more than 3,000 union authorization cards, enough for the NLRB to establish that the union had enough support to conduct an election. The union initially proposed a bargaining unit of 1,500 workers, which was later expanded to about 5,800 workers by order of Amazon.
Polls for the union election were mailed to qualifying workers on February 8 and workers were given until March 29 to send completed ballot papers to the NLRB.
Depending on the outcome of the vote, other legal challenges or objections may further delay the official outcome. The counting process of the election takes so long due to the challenging voting process and the large size of the appropriate bargaining unit.