President Joe Biden considers himself a ‘union man’from belt buckle to shoe sole, ”As he would like to say. In his campaign speak and policy proposals, Biden made it clear that he believes all American employees would be better off if more of their unions carried on. And some of the very first actions he took in office supported unions and collective bargaining.
But with Amazon workers in an Alabama warehouse now casting votes in the most conspicuous union election in years, the White House has failed to support the union there. The relative silence of the administration did not go unnoticed by the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which hopes to represent workers at the retail giant’s fulfillment center in Bessemer, Alabama.
“I think it’s important for the government to demonstrate its support for trade unionism during this campaign,” RWDSU president Stuart Appelbaum said in an interview with HuffPost. “This is the biggest campaign in many years, and it’s a great opportunity for the government to show working people what’s important to them.”
Amazon has no unions in the US and would like to keep it that way. The company has launched an aggressive counter-campaign to deter the roughly 6,000 employees from a seven-week election to join the RWDSU. Amazon’s anti-union message even follows workers in the bathrooms, where posters urge them to vote “no”.
The retailer’s prisoners among the audience and the anti-union literature drew reprimands from Democrats in the House as well as in the Senate, as well as a slanted critique of the White House. Biden tweeted in early February that the US government’s policy is to encourage collective bargaining, and that employers should ensure that workers’a free and fair choice to join a trade union. ”
However, he did not call Amazon by name.
“This is his opportunity to put a stake in the land,” said Erica Iheme, a local and Southern director of Jobs to Move America, a group working in Birmingham, trying to improve the quality of work in Alabama . “He can say, ‘This is where our government stands. ”
Reuters report earlier this month that labor leaders tried to gain support for the effort of White House officials.
This is the biggest campaign in many years, and it is an excellent opportunity for the government to show working people what is important to them.
Stuart Appelbaum, President, RWDSU
A supportive tweet from the president could not affect any votes among the workers. But it can alert a company like Amazon to possible retaliation and make a strong statement about the administration’s values. It would also set a new mark for a Democratic president when it comes to supporting unions that are often taken for granted in the Democratic Party.
The Barack Obama era also had major union elections, but the former president remained characteristically above the struggle. Obama has not publicly endorsed United Auto Workers’ failed attempt to unite a full Volkswagen plant in Tennessee in 2014. It was the election that was followed the most in years, because Volkswagen was a foreign carmaker in the South.
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There are understandable reasons for even a sympathetic president to stay out of it. The support of a president may not help, and a government may not want to be seen as an inch on the scale. The National Labor Relations Board, an independent agency for which the president makes appointments, oversees union elections in the private sector. The council may eventually have to decide whether someone violated the law in the Amazon election, or even order a ruling.
JIM WATSON via Getty Images Biden pursued policies to grow unions, but stayed out of Amazon’s potentially historic union election.
But Joseph Geevarghese, the executive director of Our Revolution, a thriving group that grew out of Senator Bernie Sanders’ (I-Vt.) Presidency in 2016, argued that Biden had a responsibility to direct Amazon’s anti-union efforts judge. He said it would be an important symbolic statement, the way Ronald Reagan’s firing air traffic controllers means ‘open season on unions’.
“The truth is, it’s bigger than Amazon,” Geevarghese said.
Jeff Hauser, director of the watchdog group Revolving Door Project of the executive, said the government is facing a massive economic and public health crisis, but still needs time to reprimand Amazon’s counter-union tactics.
“A president who confirms his commitment to the labor movement can and should also urge Amazon to stop undermining workers’ democracy,” Hauser said. Even if the support did not eventually move the needle, he said, “the ties between working people and the president would not be weakened, but indeed strengthened.”
This is his opportunity to put a stake in the ground.
Erica Iheme, Work to Move America
Whatever Biden may worry about adding to a union election, some prominent Republican politicians have not stopped him. During the UAW campaign at Volkswagen, former Senator Bob Corker (R-Tenn.) ensure more work at the plant if workers reject the union. The then Tennessee government, Bill Haslam, also called on workers to reject the union, saying it would force the company to plan to expand.
Asked by Biden to explicitly endorse the Amazon trade union struggle, a White House spokesman reiterated the president’s general position, saying he encouraged trade union organization and collective bargaining, and insisted that employers not campaign against trade unionism. . Biden called for an increase in fines on companies that oppress unions illegally, including major labor law reforms.
Biden has so far raised progressive expectations as president through his own pro-union action. In an unprecedented move on Inauguration Day, Biden fired Peter Robb, the NRLB’s Trump-appointed chief executive, who is considered by working groups to be a fierce counter-union. In Robb’s place, he nominated Jennifer Abruzzo, an attorney for the Communications Workers of America, who praises unions.
The anti-union tactics used by Amazon are fairly common among U.S. employers. Many union supporters would like to see more politicians discourage those practices and be ashamed by the bullying chair.
Earlier this month, a group of 13 Democratic senators, led by Sens. Sherrod Brown (Ohio) and Cory Booker (NJ), urged Amazon to “follow the law” and cited the company’s persuasion efforts “shameful. Fifty House Democrats, led by Representative Andy Levin (Mich.), Sent a similar letter to the company.
The Appelbaum of the RWDSU said he was satisfied with the number of signatories on the letters, but acknowledged that it would be pleasant to add more names.
“I would say to anyone who does not have a Democrat, they should think about signing up now or reconsidering why they call themselves a Democrat,” he said.
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