If you’ve been following the Amazon union process in Alabama, you may know that recently the majority of votes cast by the Amazon workers were against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union in a large defeat: 1,798 votes against unionizing and 738 votes in favor of it.
Amazon has so far withstood the pressure of unionization – despite even having the solidarity of President Biden.
This vote comes in after news reports of “stressful” working conditions requiring long hours, not receiving sufficient breaks to keep up with the pace needed, and feelings that employees did not have enough time to use the restroom or drink water.
The union is not giving up yet. The NLRB will host a hearing tomorrow May 7, 2021, to determine “if the results of the election should be set aside because conduct by the employer created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees’ freedom of choice.”
Amazon did lead a strong pushback against unionization prior to the vote, by holding:
- Long mandatory information sessions;
- Sending text messages to its workers; and
- Posting slogans in the warehouse of “Do it without dues.”
These actions are somewhat typical of union drives, but the union is also alleging that Amazon said in a March email to employees that it would conduct layoffs due to the union and that agents of the company “threatened” employees that it would close the facility if the union were voted in.
A key unfair practice the union is alleging was over a new mailbox that Amazon says was installed by the U.S. Postal Service to make voting “convenient, safe and private.” But the mailbox was placed immediately outside the warehouse under an Amazon tent, and employees wondered whether the company was trying to monitor the vote. If this evidence is true – it could be grounds for overturning the election.
Jeff Bezos, CEO, recently told shareholders in his annual letter that he recognized the company needed “a better vision for how we create value for employees — a vision for their success.” He said that Amazon had always striven to be “Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company,” and that now he wanted it to be “Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work” as well. Following the union vote, Amazon will increase pay between 50 cents and $3 an hour for half a million workers in its warehouses, delivery network and other fulfillment teams.
What does this have to do with my workplace?
This Amazon controversy is the largest union push in recent years – and comes at a time when the White House just announced their Worker Organizing and Empowerment Task Force. This task force will implement union-friendly pushes toward organizing. It is likely that in this Administration that union drives will increase – and you need to know the ins and outs of labor law to combat these efforts.
Improving overall employee relations is one way to attempt to keep union activity away. Our team offers training for an additional fixed fee to Companies on how to improve employee relations and halt unionization.
Questions about union drives and collective bargaining? We can help.