Amazon warehouse workers in Alabama will be allowed to make a union election by mail, the main U.S. labor relations agency said Friday, in a major blow to intense efforts against the union of the online sales giant.
The National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) ruled that union votes for workers at Amazon’s Bessemer performance center, which is outside Birmingham, could be issued on February 8 after Amazon raised complaints about the postal vote.
Postal voting has become commonplace during the pandemic. But in an appeal to the NLRB, agents for Amazon argued that choosing an email would take too long and involve too many resources. Amazon suggested in January that the selection would take place in person over four days in the parking lot of the performance center, even as Alabama sees about 2,000 new cases of coronavirus per day.
On Friday, the NLRB said in a brief decision that the company is “not raising any substantive issues worthy of review” and denied Amazon’s attempt to cancel the election.
Around 5,800 workers are expected to receive union ballots. The Retail, Wholesale and Retail Union (RWDSU) leads union efforts and represents its employees if they vote for a union.
The Amazon business has been thriving at the time of the pandemic, but the company has been criticized for not implementing security measures in their warehouse while the virus was rising.
Efforts to unite warehouse workers have surfaced at fulfillment centers across the country, but so far the effort to unite in Alabama has been so successful. If workers vote for a union, this would be the first union of Amazon warehouse workers.
Following the union vote, Amazon launched a campaign seeking to strongly encourage workers from voting to union. The company set up a website against unions and sent texts to employees saying that union means “giving up the right to speak for yourself” and that the union will giving “your money for nothing”.
“Once again, Amazon employees have won another battle in their bid to win a union voice,” Stuart Appelbaum, president of RWDSU, said in a statement. recitation following the governance of the NLRB.
“Today’s decision confirms that it is long overdue for Amazon to start respecting its own employees; and allow them to cast their votes without fear or hindrance. ”