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Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama might get a third try at unionizing
https://www.npr.org/2024/04/25/1246423390/amazon-warehouse-alabama-union-voteAmazon warehouse workers in Alabama might get a third try at unionizing
APRIL 25, 2024 5:01 AM ET
Alina Selyukh
It could have been the first unionized Amazon warehouse in America. Now, three years later, workers are waiting to learn whether they'll get a third shot at a union election.
A sweeping, monthslong hearing begins on Thursday to decide the fate of the unionization campaign at Amazon's facility in Bessemer, Alabama. An administrative law judge at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will review the company's and the union's conduct in the last election, which has remained too close to call since 2022.
As the COVID-19 pandemic peaked, labor organizers collected enough signatures from Bessemer workers to garner the very first union election at an Amazon warehouse. Union supporters advocated for longer breaks, more health and safety measures, higher pay and better benefits. Celebrities, lawmakers and even President Biden expressed solidarity.
But in the spring of 2021, workers voted more than 2-to-1 against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Later, U.S. labor officials ruled that Amazon improperly influenced the vote, particularly by placing a mailbox for ballots in an Amazon-branded tent in a surveilled parking lot.
[...]
APRIL 25, 2024 5:01 AM ET
Alina Selyukh
It could have been the first unionized Amazon warehouse in America. Now, three years later, workers are waiting to learn whether they'll get a third shot at a union election.
A sweeping, monthslong hearing begins on Thursday to decide the fate of the unionization campaign at Amazon's facility in Bessemer, Alabama. An administrative law judge at the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) will review the company's and the union's conduct in the last election, which has remained too close to call since 2022.
As the COVID-19 pandemic peaked, labor organizers collected enough signatures from Bessemer workers to garner the very first union election at an Amazon warehouse. Union supporters advocated for longer breaks, more health and safety measures, higher pay and better benefits. Celebrities, lawmakers and even President Biden expressed solidarity.
But in the spring of 2021, workers voted more than 2-to-1 against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Later, U.S. labor officials ruled that Amazon improperly influenced the vote, particularly by placing a mailbox for ballots in an Amazon-branded tent in a surveilled parking lot.
[...]
