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Amazon, union organizers face off again in Alabama



BESSEMER, Ala. (AP)—Bessemer may be a second-time draw for union organizers at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama—or it may not.

After a crushing defeat last year in which a majority of workers voted against forming a union, the Retail, Wholesale and Department Stores Union hopes for a different outcome in the re-election. The National Labor Relations Board on Monday began counting mailed ballots sent to 6,100 workers in early February. Results could come as early as Thursday.

If it goes unanimously, this will be Amazon’s first in the US.

As last time, RWDSU is running the union campaign in Bessemer. Vaccines have made it easier for organizers to hold face-to-face meetings during the pandemic, unlike texts, emails and phone calls that they relied on for the first time.

“This time it was easier to get the message across and we got more support inside the building,” said Dale Wyatt, an Amazon worker at the Bessemer facility who helped with the union effort. “For example, more people are wearing t-shirts, pins and clothes, and this time more people are willing to come and talk to us.”

Amazon had the chance to reunite after the NLRB determined that the company had unfairly influenced last year’s election. The country’s second largest private employer continues to convey the message that it invests in both wages and benefits for its employees. Regular full-time workers in Bessemer earn at least $15.80 per hour, which is higher than the estimated average in the city of $14.55, according to an analysis of the U.S. Census Bureau. They also get health care and a 401(k) with the company match.

Amazon has also made some changes, but still retains the controversial US Postal Service mailbox that played a key role in the NLRB’s decision to override last year’s vote.

Labor activists say the company still relies on advisers and managers to hold mandatory staff meetings to talk about why unions are a bad idea. Such meetings were stopped just before the ballots were sent, according to labor laws.

An Amazon spokesperson said the meetings gave employees the opportunity to ask questions and learn what a union could mean “for them and their daily lives working at Amazon.”

Prior to the Bessemer union move, Amazon had not faced a major union election in the US since 2014, when a majority of 30 workers at a Delaware warehouse voted against organizing. In many European countries where union membership is higher and there are fewer barriers for worker groups, such as France, Italy, Spain and Germany, Amazon workers have long been unionized.

Amazon is also facing two union elections in the more labor-friendly New York City, but chief among them is a new group of independent workers.

Amazon’s sprawling fulfillment center in Bessemer opened in 2020 just near an interstate exit where 18-wheelers painted with the Amazon logo pass small manufacturers, shipping companies, and the city’s high school.

Bessemer is located approximately 20 miles southwest of Birmingham. The once vibrant manufacturing town of 26,000 had a tough time after the area’s steel industry began to slide in the late 1900s. Today, the city is more than 70% Black, with about a quarter of its residents living in poverty.

The workers at the warehouse reflect Bessemer’s racial demographic – roughly 85% of them are Black, according to RWDSU. They drive to work as far south as the Montgomery Metro, about 100 miles south.

RWDSU works with community organizations that have helped shape union repression in the context of the Civil Rights movement in Alabama, focusing on the dignity and treatment of Amazon workers, and linking their rights with human rights.

“Community support has been very important and has always been a part of civil rights struggles in the South and other struggles in the South,” said Marc Bayard, director of the Black Workers Initiative at the Institute for Policy Studies.

Erica Iheme, vice president of Jobs to Move America, said her organization has expanded on last year’s message by going beyond payment. She visited barber shops, beauty shops, and other places frequented by Blacks, and she distributed 6,000 leaflets.

“What we need to make people understand for this election is that it goes beyond bread and butter issues,” Iheme said. “Sometimes your body has physical limitations. Sometimes you are tired. Sometimes you have kids and you have to walk away before you lose your job. It’s about the humanity of our community.”

While unions have historically been a hard sell in the South, Wyatt comes from a family of workers. He started working at Amazon in August, picking products from incoming trucks and placing them in bins before being sent to customers.

“We need better working conditions, better hours, better pay,” Wyatt said. “We need longer breaks, more attention from management and a better HR system.”

RWDSU’s first union campaign came in a year of widespread labor turmoil in many companies that only rekindled the group’s cause. For example, workers at more than 140 Starbucks locations nationwide have demanded union elections, many of which have already been successful.

The pandemic drew attention to the plight of hourly workers who felt that employers were not doing enough to protect them from the virus. But labor shortages only gave workers more power for higher wages and better working conditions.

Still, organizers oppose strong federal labor laws that favor corporations. Alabama itself is a right-to-work state; This means that companies and unions are prohibited from signing contracts that require workers to pay dues to the union that represents them.

Labor activists are also struggling with high turnover at the Bessemer plant. RWDSU estimates that about half of the 6,100 voting workers are new, making it difficult to organize.

“It’s a tough fight,” said Stuart Appelbaum, head of RWDSU. “Whatever happens, we’re not walking away. The first campaign sparked a global debate about the way Amazon works. He inspired workers across the country and the world to stand up to their employers.”





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