Amazon’s victory over an on-the-go union effort in its warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, increases pressure on Senate Democrats to quickly eliminate the 60-vote legislative filibuster and pass the PRO law , a proposed overhaul of U.S. employer – friendly labor laws. prohibits many of the tactics used by technology to crush the organizational drive.
The Protection of the Right to Organize Act (pdf), approved by President Joe Biden and passed by the House of Representatives last month, has yet to be voted in the upper house, as several members of the Democratic Party caucus – including sens. Joe Manchin (DW) .Va.), Angus King (I-Maine) and Kyrsten Cinema (D-Ariz.) – still need to support the legislation.
But even if every Senate Democrat were to sign, the bill would still face long chances due to the filibuster rule of the chamber, which effectively requires 60 votes to pass most legislation. Five House Republicans voted for the PRO law last month, but there is virtually no chance that at least ten Senate Republicans would be willing to do so, given the party’s hostility to organized labor.
This leaves out the elimination of the filibuster – which can be done by a simple majority vote – as the best way to secure final approval of legislation that addresses the damage caused by decades of assault on unions by corporations and their allies in government. To abolish the filibuster, Senate Democrats will have to win Manchin and Cinema, both of which have publicly spoken out against the abolition or weakening of the rule.
“Trade unions place power in the hands of workers and are the key to good wages, equitable benefits and an equal voice at work,” tweeted Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.), Chair of the Congressional Progressive Caucus (CPC). “It’s time to eliminate the filibuster, pass the PRO law and guarantee the right to organize.”
Rep. Cori Bush (D-Mo.), A CPC member, added that Amazon CEO “Jeff Bezos is the richest man in the world. He has invested millions of dollars to stop these workers from uniting. He thinks he is invulnerable.”
“The Senate must abolish the filibuster, pass the PRO law, and we must tax billionaires out of their existence,” Bush said.
The renewed urgency behind the PRO Act comes after it was initially found that 1,798 employees in Amazon’s Bessemer facility voted against founding a union, while only 738 voted in favor, a likely decisive blow to ‘ an organizational pressure that attracts national attention and the support of prominent. progressive lawmakers, including Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.).
The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which sought to organize the nearly 6,000 Bessemer workers, said Friday that they are formally filing unfair labor lawsuits against Amazon and accusing the business giant of lying, fraud and illegal activities. . “
But although some of Amazon’s behavior was illegal—RWDSU specifically pointed to the company’s work with the U.S. Postal Service to install a ballot box on warehouse property – organizers noted that many of the company’s aggressive tactics are permissible under current U.S. labor law, which is the extent to which the cover is, emphasize. stacked against workers who want to form a union.
As Jacobin’s Alex Press wrote on Friday:
After RWDSU filed for an NLRB election in November 2020, Amazon captured ‘audience meetings’, a mandatory session where workers heard management tell them why they should not unite. Managers lie in these meetings, and those in Bessemer are no exception. The company texted workers several times a day asking them to vote no. They papered the bathroom cabinets of the facility with anti-union pamphlets. They equipped temporary workers, who were not eligible for the union but were particularly vulnerable to management pressure, with ‘voice’ no-swag, to ensure that they would serve as walking anti-union propaganda on the shop floor.
These are standard counter-union tactics, if reinforced thanks to Amazon’s effectively infinite suitcases. All of these things are allowed under US law. And even if the company violated the law during the union, it is to be expected – given how unpleasant the consequences for violating workers’ rights are, about 40 percent of employers are charged with violating federal law during a union election.
Roxana Rivera, vice president of 32BJ SEIU, the largest union of real estate workers in the U.S., said in a statement late Friday that “we have seen many companies use the kind of union tactics that Amazon uses in Bessemer.”
“From changing traffic lights to hearing meetings captured, this corporate giant has spent millions of dollars on workers instead of workers,” Rivera said. “Because companies use their excessive power to stop anything from preventing workers from coming together, Congress must act to make it easier for all workers to join unions through the Protection of the Right to Organize Act. (PRO). “
“In most states, it’s easier to buy an AR-15 than to join a union,” Rivera added. “The PRO law would put an end to many of the tactics Amazon used to suppress the union to organize their workers. Workers will not be deterred and will continue to organize for a better future.”
Speaking in support of Bessemer workers in late February, Biden included the PRO law in its $ 2.3 billion infrastructure proposal, but the labor measure is unlikely to survive the filibuster-safe budget reconciliation process – a restrictive procedural tool Democrats are likely to use it to pass an infrastructure package amid united Republican opposition.
As Mother Jones’ Noah Lanard put it on Friday, the PRO law has’ little chance of becoming law as long as the Senate filibuster stays in place. ‘