Organizers and workers are making the final push in the election of Amazon unions in the US in Bessemer, Alabama, which, if successful, would mark one of the biggest victories for the US workforce in decades.
The fight to form a union with the highly profitable technology and retail giant has sparked huge political interest and pushed labor rights to the front pages of America, especially during the coronavirus pandemic, when workers in online retail warehouses they have become an essential workforce.
Workers’ ballots must reach the regional office of the Alabama National Labor Relations Committee by March 29 to be counted. The majority of votes cast determine the outcome of the election, with approximately 5,800 employees eligible to vote.
Ballots for the election were offered to workers on February 8. Amazon’s attempts to delay the vote and force in-person elections were rejected by the National Council for Labor Relations.
The union effort received several high-quality supporters, including a video released by President Joe Biden in support of workers’ right to organize unions, with support from several members of Congress, including Senator Bernie Sanders and Republican Senator Marco Rubio. , as well as other unions such as the NFL Players Association, the MLB Players Association, support from the Black Lives Matter and several local organizations.
Darryl Richardson, a voter who helped start the union after contacting the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store union last year, said broad support for the union effort helped significantly.
“It made a big difference because we had many employees who did not understand and did not know anything about the union or what the company’s union could bring. With the help of everyone around the world who supported us, he changed people’s minds about how to vote, “said Richardson. “You had employees who were undecided about it, confused about it, who were going to vote ‘no’, but now they’re back, and they’ve come back a lot and said they’ll vote ‘yes’.”
The Alabama unionization effort has amplified broader discussions about Amazon’s role in increasing wealth and income inequality in the United States and the racial justice issues that were further exposed during the coronavirus pandemic. The union estimates that 85 percent of Alabama’s warehouse workers are black. Of Amazon’s US workers, 27% are black.
On March 17, the U.S. Senate Budget Committee held a hearing on America’s income inequality and wealth crisis, where Jennifer Bates, a worker at the Amazon Bessemer Warehouse, remarked during her testimony, “We, the workers, have made billions. for Amazon. I often say that we are billionaires – we just don’t get to spend them. ”
Amazon founder Jeff Bezos declined an invitation to attend the hearing.
According to an analysis by the Brookings Institution, Amazon’s profits increased by $ 9.4 billion compared to 2019, and Amazon founder and CEO Jeff Bezos saw its net worth increase by nearly $ 68 billion. The report noted that Amazon could have quintupled the risk it offered workers during the pandemic and exceeded 2019 profits.
Sara Nelson, international president of the Flight Companion Association-CWA, was one of several high-quality visitors to the Bessemer trade union organizing base through union elections. She noted that the Amazon union elections in Alabama have broader connotations for the entire US labor movement and the dignity of workers.
“The eyes of the whole world have turned to Bessemer, Alabama, and there’s a lot of pride in that,” Nelson said. “A new era of organization has begun. Whether or not they get the vote in this election, they have already won because they have sown in the minds of working people everywhere who feel they have no respect for where they live and work and are not happy where they are, that they do not have to take it and actually have a way to fight back. ”
Amazon has strongly opposed unionization for years in the United States, successfully crushing previous attempts at unionization in the United States, although it has not faced an effort to organize on the scale of the Bessemer warehouse.
Richardson and other Amazon workers involved in the trade union effort fought for months against an aggressive Amazon anti-union campaign.
Amazon spends nearly $ 10,000 every day, plus spending on anti-union consultants for union elections, as workers face regular captive audience meetings that encourage workers to vote against the union, flooded with text messages, advertisements, leaflets, posters in around the depot 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 vote in opposition to the union.
A December 2019 report from the Institute for Economic Policy found that employers are accused of violating federal law in more than 54% of union elections with large bargaining units, and U.S. employers spend about $ 340 million annually on consultants to avoid trade union.
Amazon’s anti-union arguments frequently cited the company’s minimum wage of $ 15 and argued that the company already offers everything a union would offer, while emphasizing union dues. A recent New York Times report noted that Amazon’s initial payment of $ 15 per hour is about $ 3 lower than the average salary in the Birmingham, Alabama metropolitan area and that workers at nearby warehouses with union labor , receive higher salaries.
“I really feel like we’re going to win,” Richardson added. “If the union enters, the power will split and the people will have a voice. You will have someone to represent you to make sure you are not fired just because they will make sure you are treated properly, working in a safe environment and that the promotions are fair. The union can make a difference. ”