Amazon is reportedly trying to ban employees in a warehouse in Alabama from participating in an upcoming union vote.
What is the background?
Due to the coronavirus pandemic, a significant portion of U.S. voters participated in the 2020 election by submitting ballots. In fact, data from the Pew Research Center found that nearly half of American voters – 46% – voted absent or by e-mail.
Democrats strongly pushed the vote for the ballot, probably because the ballots with the ballot allow more voters to participate in the election process. Republicans, however, were generally opposed to the entries, arguing that running a large portion of the election by mail increases the potential for voter fraud to harm electoral integrity.
What happens to Amazon?
Amazon on Thursday filed an appeal with the National Labor Relations Board over the agency’s decision to allow the nearly 6,000 employees working in Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama warehouse, to participate in the union election through ballot papers.
Instead, Amazon wants the election to take place in person.
From the Washington Post:
Amazon argued in one of the two documents that the agency’s policy on voting on pandemics was flawed, in part because it did not determine what a covid-19 ‘outbreak’ was. These guidelines “reflect the assumptions developed earlier in the pandemic – before scientific understanding of the virus and possible precautions developed to where it is today,” Amazon said in the submission.
In fact, Lisa Henderson, the acting regional director of the NLRB’s Atlanta office, told Amazon that the requirement that the union vote should take place in person could deny voters who have covid-19 or are concerned about contracting the disease. .
“An election by postal vote will elect employees who are unable to enter the polling station due to health reasons or positive COVID tests,” the NLRB decision reads, CNN reports. “In addition, an election post by post will protect the health and safety of voters, agency staff, party representatives and the public during the current health crisis.”
What did Amazon say?
Amazon spokeswoman Heather Knox said in a statement to CNN that Amazon is fighting for a personal election because it’s the best approach to a valid, fair and successful election that is conducted manually and personally, which makes it easy for employees. to verify and bring out their voice in the vicinity of their workplace. ‘
The attempt by the Bessemer employees to unite is the first of Amazon employees in seven years.