KazPost

Kazakhstan News
Thursday, Mar 28, 2024

Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama make the final push toward unionizing

Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama make the final push toward unionizing

The effort has received several high profile endorsements, including from President Joe Biden and other labor unions

Organizers and workers are making the final push in the first Amazon warehouse union election in the US in Bessemer, Alabama which, if successful, would mark one of the biggest labor victories in the US over the past several decades.

The fight over forming a union at the hugely profitable tech and retail giant has triggered immense political interest and pushed labor rights on to America’s front pages, especially during the coronavirus pandemic when warehouse workers for online retail have become an essential workforce.

Workers’ ballots must reach the National Labor Relations Board regional office in Alabama by 29 March to be counted. A majority of the ballots cast determine the outcome of the election, with around 5,800 employees eligible to vote.

Ballots for the election went out to workers on 8 February. Amazon’s attempts to delay the vote and force an in-person election were denied by the National Labor Relations Board.

The union effort has received several high profile endorsements, including a video released by President Joe Biden asserting his support for workers’ right to organize unions, endorsements from several members of Congress, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Republican Senator Marco Rubio, other labor unions such as the NFL Players Association, the MLB Players Association, support from Black Lives Matter and several local organizations.

Darryl Richardson, a picker who helped start the union organizing drive after reaching out to the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union last year, emphasized that the broad support for the unionization effort has helped significantly.

“It made a big difference because we had a lot of employees who didn’t understand or know anything about the union or what the union could bring to the company. With the help of everybody around the world supporting us, it did change folks’ ideas on how to vote,” said Richardson. “You had employees undecided about it, confused about it, who were going to vote ‘no’, but now the tables turned, and a lot came around and said they’re going to vote ‘yes’.”

The unionization effort in Alabama has amplified broader discussions on Amazon’s role in the growing wealth and income inequality in the US and racial justice issues that have been further exposed during the coronavirus pandemic. Union organizers estimate 85% of workers at the Alabama warehouse are Black. Of Amazon’s workers in the US, 27% are Black.

On 17 March, the US Senate budget committee held a hearing on the Income and Wealth Inequality Crisis in America, where Jennifer Bates, a Bessemer Amazon warehouse worker, noted during her testimony, “we, the workers, made the billions for Amazon. I often say, we are the billionaires – we just don’t get to spend it.”

Amazon founder Jeff Bezos declined an invitation to participate in the hearing.

According to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, Amazon’s profits increased by $9.4bn from 2019, and Amazon’s founder and CEO Jeff Bezos saw his net worth increase by nearly $68bn. The report noted Amazon could have quintupled the hazard pay it provided to workers during the pandemic and still exceeded 2019 profits.

Sara Nelson, international president of the Association of Flight Attendants-CWA, was one of several high profile visitors to the union organizing base at Bessemer through the union election. She noted the Amazon union election in Alabama has broader connotations for the entire US labor movement and the dignity of workers.

“They have turned the whole world’s eyes to Bessemer, Alabama, and there’s a lot of pride in that,” said Nelson. “They’re kicking off a new era of organizing. Whether they get the vote in this election to win or not, they’ve already won because they’ve sown into the consciousness of working people everywhere who feel like they don’t have any respect where they live and work and aren’t happy where they are, that they don’t have to take it and they actually have a way to fight back.”

Amazon has strongly opposed unionization for years in the US, successfully squashing previous unionization attempts in the US, though it hasn’t faced an organizing effort at the scale of the Bessemer warehouse.

Richardson and other Amazon workers involved in the union organizing effort have fought for months against an aggressive Amazon anti-union campaign.

Amazon is spending nearly $10,000 each day plus expenses on anti-union consultants for the union election, as workers faced regular captive-audience meetings encouraging workers to vote against the union, have been inundated with anti-union text messages, ads, flyers, posters around the warehouse, and an anti-union website was launched. More recently, during the election, a USPS mailbox was installed at the warehouse and instructions were sent to workers on how to cast ballots in opposition to the union.

A report by the Economic Policy Institute in December 2019 found employers are charged with violating federal law in more than 54% of union elections with large bargaining units and US employers spend roughly $340m annually on consultants who specialize in union avoidance.

Amazon’s anti-union arguments have frequently cited the company’s $15 minimum wage and claimed the company already offers everything a union would provide, while emphasizing union dues. A recent New York Times report noted Amazon’s starting pay at $15 an hour is about $3 less than the median wage in the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area, and that workers at nearby warehouses with unionized workforces receive higher pay.

“I truly feel we’re going to win,” added Richardson. “If the union comes in, the power will split up and people will have a voice. You will have someone represent you to make sure you’re not fired just because they’ll make sure you’re treated fairly, working in a safe environment, and that promotions are fair. The union can make a difference.”

Newsletter

Related Articles

KazPost
0:00
0:00
Close
It's always the people with the dirty hands pointing their fingers
Paper straws found to contain long-lasting and potentially toxic chemicals - study
FTX's Bankman-Fried headed for jail after judge revokes bail
Blackrock gets half a trillion dollar deal to rebuild Ukraine
America's First New Nuclear Reactor in Nearly Seven Years Begins Operations
Southeast Asia moves closer to economic unity with new regional payments system
Today Hunter Biden’s best friend and business associate, Devon Archer, testified that Joe Biden met in Georgetown with Russian Moscow Mayor's Wife Yelena Baturina who later paid Hunter Biden $3.5 million in so called “consulting fees”
Singapore Carries Out First Execution of a Woman in Two Decades Amid Capital Punishment Debate
Google testing journalism AI. We are doing it already 2 years, and without Google biased propoganda and manipulated censorship
Unlike illegal imigrants coming by boats - US Citizens Will Need Visa To Travel To Europe in 2024
Musk announces Twitter name and logo change to X.com
The future of sports
Unveiling the Black Hole: The Mysterious Fate of EU's Aid to Ukraine
Farewell to a Music Titan: Tony Bennett, Renowned Jazz and Pop Vocalist, Passes Away at 96
Alarming Behavior Among Florida's Sharks Raises Concerns Over Possible Cocaine Exposure
Transgender Exclusion in Miss Italy Stirs Controversy Amidst Changing Global Beauty Pageant Landscape
TikTok Takes On Spotify And Apple, Launches Own Music Service
Global Trend: Using Anti-Fake News Laws as Censorship Tools - A Deep Dive into Tunisia's Scenario
Arresting Putin During South African Visit Would Equate to War Declaration, Asserts President Ramaphosa
Hacktivist Collective Anonymous Launches 'Project Disclosure' to Unearth Information on UFOs and ETIs
Typo sends millions of US military emails to Russian ally Mali
Server Arrested For Theft After Refusing To Pay A Table's $100 Restaurant Bill When They Dined & Dashed
The Changing Face of Europe: How Mass Migration is Reshaping the Political Landscape
China Urges EU to Clarify Strategic Partnership Amid Trade Tensions
Europe is boiling: Extreme Weather Conditions Prevail Across the Continent
The Last Pour: Anchor Brewing, America's Pioneer Craft Brewer, Closes After 127 Years
Democracy not: EU's Digital Commissioner Considers Shutting Down Social Media Platforms Amid Social Unrest
Sarah Silverman and Renowned Authors Lodge Copyright Infringement Case Against OpenAI and Meta
Why Do Tech Executives Support Kennedy Jr.?
The New York Times Announces Closure of its Sports Section in Favor of The Athletic
BBC Anchor Huw Edwards Hospitalized Amid Child Sex Abuse Allegations, Family Confirms
Florida Attorney General requests Meta CEO's testimony on company's platforms' alleged facilitation of illicit activities
The Distorted Mirror of actual approval ratings: Examining the True Threat to Democracy Beyond the Persona of Putin
40,000 child slaves in Congo are forced to work in cobalt mines so we can drive electric cars.
Historic Moment: Edgars Rinkevics, EU's First Openly Gay Head of State, Takes Office as Latvia's President
An Ominous Shift in Warfare: Western Powers Risk War Crimes and Violate International Norms with Cluster Bomb Supply to Ukraine
Bye bye democracy, human rights, freedom: French Cops Can Now Secretly Activate Phone Cameras, Microphones And GPS To Spy On Citizens
The Poor Man With Money, Mark Zuckerberg, Unveils Twitter Replica with Heavy-Handed Censorship: A New Low in Innovation?
The Double-Edged Sword of AI: AI is linked to layoffs in industry that created it
US Sanctions on China's Chip Industry Backfire, Prompting Self-Inflicted Blowback
Meta Copy Twitter with New App, Threads
The New French Revolution
BlackRock Bitcoin ETF Application Refiled, Naming Coinbase as ‘Surveillance-Sharing’ Partner
Corruption in the European Parliament - Business as usual
UK Crypto and Stablecoin Regulations Become Law as Royal Assent is Granted
Paris Suburb Grapples with Violence as Curfew Imposed: Saint-Denis Residents Express Dismay and Anger
A Delaware city wants to let businesses vote in its elections
Alef Aeronautics Achieves Historic Milestone with Flight Certification for World's First Flying Car
Google Blocked Access to Canadian News in Response to New Legislation
French Politicians Advocate for Pan-European Regulation on Social Media Influencers
×