Amazon workers and organizers in Bessemer, Alabama, are calling door-to-door, wearing pro-union sports t-shirts and challenging anti-union texting by consultants hired by Amazon as they attempt to convince his colleagues a second time to unite their warehouses in an election that begins on Friday by secret ballot.
The new organizational tactics came two months after the National Labor Relations Board order a centralized election when determining that Amazon unfair influence the first election last year. Laborers back then overwhelmingly rejected unions with a vote of 1,798 to 738 and voter turnout of 53%.
Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Alliances, such as last time spearheads of union dynamics, has called for help from other unions, including those representing teachers and postal workers.
Stuart Appelbaum, president of RWDSU, said the union is also calling on community groups like the Greater Birmingham Department to spread the message that Amazon workers are not just warehouse workers but belong to the community and deserve respect. important.
“Alabama has a long history of denying workers the right to attract corporations,” said Scott Douglas, chief executive of the Greater Birmingham Department.
RWDSU estimates that more than half of the approximately 6,100 workers at the Alabama facility who voted last year are still eligible to vote in the current election. But the numbers also speak of high labor turnover – an issue that has made it difficult to organize efforts to gain traction in Bessemer and elsewhere.
Organizers remain optimistic. Vaccines have made it easier for them to meet in person during the pandemic instead of the texts, emails and phone calls they relied on last year. They also say that workers are more open to unionization and that new employees are noting labor unrest that has become even stronger in recent months, not just at Amazon but other companies like Starbucks.
“We are letting Amazon know that we will stick together. We will work together and we will become one,” Bessemer worker Kristina Bell said on a call organized by the union last week.
The election repeats Amazon’s attention and how it treats its workers. Pro-union workers at the Bessemer warehouse complain about their 10-hour shifts with little breaks.
Barbara Agrait, an Amazon spokeswoman, countered in an email to The Associated Press that full-time employees at the Bessemer facility earn at least $15.80 (about Rs 1,200) an hour and get care. health on the first day of employment, and a matching 401(k) plan with matching corporate contributions. In addition, Amazon will pay the full cost of the employee’s college education after three months of employment. Agrait further noted that more than 450 employees have been promoted since the warehouse’s opening in spring 2020.
“Our employees always have the choice to join a union or not, and our focus remains on working directly with our team to make Amazon a great place to work,” said Agrait. .
If the organizers are successful, the Bessemer warehouse will be the first unified Amazon facility in the US. The company is fighting a separate effort by workers to consolidate a facility in New York City, where last week Amazon’s newly formed Labor Union lined up enough supporters to organize a vote.
RWDSU still faces an uphill battle with Amazon, which is uncompromising on its anti-union stance. Workers say the company continues to rely on consultants and managers to hold mandatory employee meetings to talk about why unions are a bad idea.
Agrait defended the meetings: “If the union vote goes through, it will impact everyone at the venue, which is why we hold regular information sessions and give employees the opportunity to ask questions and learn about what this might mean for them and their day-to-day working life at Amazon. “
The company is also keeping a controversial U.S. Postal Service mailbox, which was key in the NLRB’s decision to rescind last year’s vote. Amazon has argued it wants to make it easier for workers to vote, but the NLRB said the mailbox gives the false impression that Amazon is conducting an election.
The mailbox has since been relocated from the entrance of the facility to another part of the parking lot. And, under the new election rules, it no longer contains the signage Amazon put up last year.
But the union says mailboxes are still monitored by cameras and could give workers the false impression that they can only cast their ballots there, not the post office, or mail ballots from home. .
“The whole election was turned upside down because of the mailbox. Darryl Richardson, an Amazon worker at the Bessemer facility, said.
The NLRB declined to comment. The agency will begin sending ballots to workers on Friday; Ballots must be returned to the NLRB regional office by March 25. Counting begins on March 28.
For its part, Amazon has reached an agreement with the NLRB pledging to limit practices such as threatening workers with disciplinary action or calling the police when they engage in union activity in non-work areas. outside in a non-working environment.
But John Logan, director of Labor and Employment Studies at San Francisco State University, says the settlement only requires Amazon to act under labor laws, in favor of the employer. He noted that current labor laws give companies plenty of time, including holding mandatory meetings that can intimidate workers and sending a flurry of anti-union messages throughout worker’s day. .
Appelbaum and some Amazon employees say they’ve pushed back these mandatory meetings, corrected consultants or other managers for any false statements, and sometimes even closed meetings. meeting.
Still, Logan said that while Amazon made mistakes in the last election, it continues to get better at anti-union campaigns, figuring out what it can and can’t do.
“They are learning and becoming more sophisticated every day,” says Logan.
