Peter Endig | AFP | Getty Images
Amazon lost its push on Friday to postpone a meticulous union vote in a sprawling warehouse in Alabama, and 6,000 workers were able to decide the company’s first major union effort since 2014.
The National Labor Relations Board’s decision calls on Amazon last month to close an email vote by workers in the Bessemer, Alabama, warehouse or want to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union.
The company specifically asked the NLRB to review aspects of its previous decision. Amazon also insisted on a personal election, citing errors in the agency’s definition of what a coronavirus outbreak is.
In its latest ruling, the NLRB said that Amazon’s appeal “does not raise any material issues that warrant.”
“The employer’s motion to stay the election pending review is also not denied,” the council said.
By denying Amazon’s appeal, the NLRB will allow Amazon workers in the warehouse to start voting by mail from Monday. Ballot papers must be received by the NLRB’s regional office by 29 March and the count will start the next day.
The last major union effort within Amazon was in 2014, when repair workers at a warehouse in Delaware could not garner enough votes to join a union. Since then, however, protest marches linked to Prime Day, the coronavirus pandemic and other events have laid the groundwork for new organizing efforts in parts of its workforce across the country.
The trade union effort in Alabama appeared as a protracted labor dispute at Amazon, and the company hired the same law firm he helped negotiate with during the union in Delaware.
Amazon also set up a website to advertise its position on the Alabama warehouse union, encouraging workers to ‘do it without fees’, citing the cost of membership when joining a union.
The company has been encouraging communication with workers about the union in the BHM1 Bessemer warehouse over the past few weeks. Amazon held mandatory meetings, distributed leaflets throughout the facility, and sent text messages during that time.
Trade union president Stuart Applebaum announced the NLRB’s decision as a victory in the Amazon workers’ battle to put pressure on the company to hold a personal election as a threat to the health and safety of workers amid the pandemic organize and criticize.
“Once again, Amazon workers have once again won a battle in their bid to win a union vote,” Applebaum said in a statement. “Today’s decision proves that it is a long time ago that Amazon began to respect its own employees; and enables them to cast their votes without intimidation and interference.”
Amazon representatives did not immediately respond to a request for comment.