Biden Support for Amazon: The president tweeted a video calling out warehouse workers in the process of voting to determine whether they will be represented by the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union
President Biden gave Amazon warehouse staff in Alabama fighting to join a union their biggest support yet, tweeting a video Sunday night saying workers should be able to make their decision in the election without pressure from the company.
More than 5,800 workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Ala., are in the middle of a seven-week voting period to determine whether they want the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union to represent them. Although Biden didn’t name Amazon in the video, he made it clear that he supports the union drive
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Has anyone tried to unionize Amazon?
The vast majority of votes cast by Amazon’s workers in Bessemer, Ala., were against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in a stinging defeat of the union drive. The final tally showed 1,798 votes against unionizing and 738 votes in favor of the union
Can Amazon employees unionize?
While unions are common among Amazon warehouse workers in Europe, none of Amazon’s American workers are unionized.
Amazon has actively opposed unionization in the United States, has stated a preference to resolve issues with employees directly, asserting that unions would impede the company’s innovation.
Wholesale and Department Store Union
The news puts the warehouse in Bessemer, outside Birmingham, back in the spotlight as a harbinger of labor-organizing efforts at Amazon, which is now America’s second-largest private employer with more than 950,000 employees. The union drive is being led by the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union.
Why did Amazon workers reject the union?
The Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU), which workers rejected joining earlier this year by a more than 2-1 margin, had said Amazon illegally threatened staff with reduced benefits and compromised the election’s integrity via a ballot collection box it secured outside the warehouse.
Did Amazon vote in a union?
A regional office of the National Labor Relations Board on Monday ordered a new union election at an Amazon warehouse in Alabama, upholding a union challenge to a vote that the company won decisively
How Biden Supported Amazon
It’ll also be the biggest US group of Amazon workers to vote on the question, at about 5,800 people.
“Today and over the next few days and weeks, workers in Alabama, and all across America, are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace,” said Biden, not to mention Amazon by name.
In the video, Biden reminded workers that the choice of whether to join a union doesn’t belong to him, nor to their employers, but is their decision alone to take. He called it a “vitally important choice,” and warned against threats, intimidation, and anti-union propaganda. “Make your voice heard,” he said.
