Amazon Union Vote Uncovers Signs Of Interference By Management

Amazon workers in Alabama seem to have voted against unionization, but some reports suggest evidence is already emerging of possible interference by management.

According to The Washington Post, Amazon undertook fairly standard actions for the company to win out, including text messages, posters, and mandatory anti-union training. Labor organizations like More Perfect Union, however, allege that atypical and possibly illegal tactics were also at play.

In total, unionization lost 1,798 to 738. Over 3,000 votes were cast out of 5,805 eligible employees. A successful vote would have seen the facility join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. It would have been the first labor union to form under Amazon in the U.S.

More Perfect Union says Amazon illegally installed a ballot drop box right in front of company buildings, pressuring employees to use it instead of mailing in their vote.

A Freedom Of Information Act request by the Resale, Wholesale and Department Store union obtained heavily redacted USPS emails around the installation.

During the vote, it was unclear who had installed the box and who had access to it. With Amazon’s apparent anti-union tactics, labor organizers say that uncertainty ensured workers wouldn’t feel safe using it.

“It’s supposed to be a secret election. The union and Amazon never see the ballot. So the board said, basically, ‘No, we’re not going to allow you to have your own box, unaccompanied, on your property,'” said Joshua Brewer, RWDSU’s Director of Organizing.

“When you see this box, it’s right by the front door,” he said. “Everything in Amazon is tracked, everything is surveilled. The idea that this massive box that’s 20 feet from the front door of Amazon isn’t being surveilled is ludicrous.”

More Perfect Union also reports that Amazon’s Alabama branch got the county to change traffic light timing, increasing the speed at which employees leave the premises and limiting opportunities for labor organizers to approach them.

An Amazon training video around unions shared by the labor group Whole Worker has racked up more than half a million views. It tells workers to be on the alert of “warning signs” like mentions of a “living wage” or employees making friends with each other.

RWDSU says that 3,200 votes have been cast, just over half of the facility’s 5,800 workers. Hundreds of ballots have already been challenged “mostly by the employer.” The number of challenged votes is not enough to overcome the margin of victory, meaning they won't be investigated.

The vote alone has attracted attention from as high up as President Joe Biden. RWDSU President Stuart Applebaum said as counting started that the public discourse alone was a victory.

“[The campaign] has become the prime example for why we need labor law reform in this country,” he said.

The union will challenge the outcome. RWDSU will file claims of unfair labor practices with the National Labor Relations Board, which is oversees the vote.

“Amazon has left no stone unturned in its efforts to gaslight its own employees,” RWDSU President Stuart Appelbaum said in a statement Friday. “We won’t let Amazon’s lies, deception and illegal activities go unchallenged, which is why we are formally filing charges against all of the egregious and blatantly illegal actions taken by Amazon during the union vote.”