President Biden
Joe BidenBiden supports union organizing efforts Senate Democrats nix ‘Plan B’ on raising minimum wage Kavanaugh upsets conservatives by evading Trump election proceedings MORE on Sunday offered its support for organizing unions as Amazon employees at an Alabama warehouse to vote on whether they should unite.
In a video posted on Twitter, the president told workers “in Alabama and across America” who were considering joining a union that they had an “extremely important choice”.
He did not name Amazon directly, but his video statement was released after nearly 6,000 warehouse workers in Bessemer, Ala., Began voting earlier this month on the option to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) close. If the union is approved, the union will become the first of Amazon’s U.S. operations.
“I made it clear when I was going on that my government’s policy is to organize unions and negotiate the law,” Biden said. “I keep the promise.”
“So let me be really clear: it is not up to me to decide whether someone should join a trade union,” he added. ‘But let me be even clearer: it is not the employer who has to decide either. The choice to join a trade union depends on the workers’ point. ‘
Biden went on to say that workers should not face intimidation, coercion, threats, trade union propaganda or questions from supervisors about their decision.
Workers in Alabama – and across America – are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. This is an extremely important choice – it must be made without intimidation or threat by employers.
Every worker must have a free and fair choice to join a trade union. pic.twitter.com/2lzbyyii1g
– President Biden (@POTUS) March 1, 2021
Ballot papers for the union vote were sent earlier this month to workers at the Bessemer warehouse and must be returned to the National Labor Relations Office by March 29, CNBC reports.
The Bessemer facility first opened in March 2020, but its workers soon expressed concerns about job quotas, low wages and concerns about the lack of protection against COVID-19 – issues raised by employees at other Amazon sites.
Employees at the Alabama Warehouse quietly began organizing in July before the RWDSU officially filed a petition in November.
Amazon did not immediately return The Hill’s request for comment. But a spokesman earlier told The Hill that the union did not represent ‘the majority of our employees’ views’, while emphasizing the company’s wage of $ 15.30.
The online retailer allegedly sued a trade union through a website and pamphlets encouraging employees to vote against the effort, according to Vice.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, praised Biden’s statement, saying a trade union “is the best way to protect working people to protect themselves and their families.”
“And that’s why so many working women and men are fighting for a union at the Amazon plant in Bessemer, Alabama,” Appelbaum said in a statement.