{"id":223765,"date":"2021-04-10T12:00:01","date_gmt":"2021-04-10T09:00:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/union-drive-at-amazon-warehouse-fails-after-bitter-campaign\/"},"modified":"2021-04-10T12:00:01","modified_gmt":"2021-04-10T09:00:01","slug":"union-drive-at-amazon-warehouse-fails-after-bitter-campaign","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/union-drive-at-amazon-warehouse-fails-after-bitter-campaign\/","title":{"rendered":"#Union drive at Amazon warehouse fails after bitter campaign"},"content":{"rendered":"

“#Union drive at Amazon warehouse fails after bitter campaign<\/strong>”<\/p>\n

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\n A wide majority of workers at an Alabama Amazon warehouse voted against a union drive, but the results are likely to be challenged by activists who claimed the company used unfair tactics
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A contentious unionization drive at an Amazon warehouse in the southern US state of Alabama failed Friday as a vote count showed a wide majority of workers rejecting the move.<\/p>\n

In a tally streamed live online, National Labor Relations Board officials recorded a “no” vote majority of 1,798 to 738, a stinging defeat in the push to create the first labor union at a US-based Amazon facility.<\/p>\n

Union activists vowed to demand a re-vote, claiming the US tech and retail giant used unfair tactics.<\/p>\n

Of the 5,876 eligible voters, 3,041 submitted ballots, some of which were voided or challenged but not enough to change the outcome, according to the labor board.<\/p>\n

The results cap a bruising months-long battle that has sparked intense debate over workplace conditions at Amazon, which has more than 800,000 US employees.<\/p>\n

Unions and political leaders have argued that Amazon employees face constant pressure and monitoring, with little job protection, highlighting the need for collective bargaining.<\/p>\n

Amazon has argued that most of its workers don’t want or need a union and that it already provides more than most other employers, with a minimum $15 hourly wage and other benefits.<\/p>\n

The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which organized the drive, said it would challenge the outcome, arguing that Amazon had “created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and\/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees’ freedom of choice.”<\/p>\n

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\n US Senator and progressive leader Bernie Sanders was among the high-profile leaders backing unionization of the Amazon fulfillment center in Alabama
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Drop-box intimidation<\/b><\/p>\n

Amazon denied intimidating workers, whom it contended were inundated with anti-company messages by the union, politicians and media<\/a> outlets.<\/p>\n

“Amazon didn’t win\u2014our employees made the choice to vote against joining a union,” the e-commerce colossus said.<\/p>\n

“We welcome the opportunity to sit down and share ideas with any policymaker who wants to pass laws ensuring that all workers in the United States are guaranteed at least $15 an hour, health care from day one, and other strong benefits.”<\/p>\n

The labor group said workers were bombarded with anti-union messages, and claimed the company’s use of a drop-box outside the warehouse could have intimidated employees.<\/p>\n

“Amazon knew full well that unless they did everything they possibly could, even illegal activity, their workers would have continued supporting the union,” said RWDSU president Stuart App<\/a>elbaum.
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“That’s why they required all their employees to attend lecture after lecture, filled with mistruths and lies, where workers had to listen to the company demand they oppose the union.”<\/p>\n

Appelbaum said Amazon’s use of a postal drop box on its grounds “provided a clear ability to intimidate workers.”<\/p>\n

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\n A drive to create the first Amazon labor union which was seen as a test case for the digital economy appeared to be headed for defeat
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Bitter pill for labor<\/b><\/p>\n

The Amazon drive was seen as a watershed for a diminished US labor movement, with activists aiming to use the Alabama warehouse as a catalyst for other organizing efforts.<\/p>\n

Brookings Institution senior fellow Darrell West said the Amazon effort was “a test case for whether the digital economy would go the same route as the industrial economy.”<\/p>\n

Will Brucher, an instructor at the Rutgers University School of Management and Labor Relations, said the organizing drive might still help the broader labor movement.<\/p>\n

“Amazon won this battle, but the war may not be over,” Brucher said.<\/p>\n

“Community-based, grassroots organizing can succeed, even against a powerful employer like Amazon.”<\/p>\n

While the failed vote in Bessemer, a suburb of the city of Birmingham, is not what union supporters had hoped for, it was a brave stand by workers against a powerful corporation, according to Richard Trumka, president of the 12.5-million member AFL-CIO.<\/p>\n

“We’re not going anywhere,” Trumka said.<\/p>\n

“Whether Jeff Bezos likes it or not, this organizing drive is going to open the floodgates to more collective action.”<\/p>\n

Union organizers in Alabama were confident Amazon workers would get a re-vote, with different results.<\/p>\n

“I want my fellow Amazonians to know that it’s not over,” warehouse worker Linda Burns said in a video call with reporters.<\/p>\n

“We’re going to fight for our rights as human beings, not robots.”\n <\/p>\n\n

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Union vote count nears final stage for Amazon warehouse\n <\/p><\/div>\n

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\n \u00a9 2021 AFP<\/p>\n

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Citation<\/strong>:
\n Union drive at Amazon warehouse fails after bitter campaign (2021, April 10)
\n retrieved 10 April 2021
\n from https:\/\/techxplore.com\/news<\/a>\/2021-04-union-amazon-warehouse-bitter-campaign.html<\/p>\n

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\n part may be reproduced without the written permission. The content is provided for information purposes only.<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n