Posted on 04/09/2021 8:44:13 AM PDT by SeekAndFind
Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, voted no on certifying a union to represent them, rejecting the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union. More than 3,200 workers cast ballots by mail in the historic vote on whether to form the first unionized Amazon facility in the US. While several hundred challenged ballots remain to be considered on Friday, more than 1,700 votes against had been counted, enough to defeat the union effort.
The warehouse employees were the first at Amazon to have a union election in seven years. Had Bessemer unionized, it likely would've sparked similar movements across the country, but the effort's defeat instead could have a chilling effect on other warehouse workers considering unionizing.
Those in favor of organizing found themselves up against fierce opposition from Amazon, which argued that its workers didn't need union representation because it offered them wages nearly double the region's minimum wage, as well as health, retirement and tuition benefits. To push its stance with workers, Amazon hired a consultant known for persuading employees not to unionize, at a rate of $3,200 per day, according to documents revealed by The Intercept. Advocates for organizing hoped the union would bring more job security and help improve break policies, among other benefits. The demands have become even more desired by workers now as the coronavirus pandemic puts a burden on them to fulfill the millions of items Americans are ordering every day.
The union, which is small compared with giants like the National Education Association of the United States and the Service Employees International Union, also represents meatpackers, cereal makers and department store workers.
As the final votes were being counted on Friday, the RWDSU said it's filing objections over the election and unfair labor charges,
(Excerpt) Read more at cnet.com ...
Amazonian suppressed the vote by requiring voter ID and chain-of-custody of ballots.
Having been in a union, I didn’t feel that the union was as interested in the workers as they were in their own well-being. The top guys made big bucks and made political decisions that I didn’t like. They also ran the store I worked for out of business. We were operating in a non-union town at union wages. While it was great to earn nearly four times the non-union rate it was obvious that it wasn’t a long term sustainable model. So, yep, the entire chain went under. What’s it called when an organism attaches to another organism and kills it?
And now comes the punishment for having voted down the union. You just know it’s coming, in one form or another.
Unions are generally awful but if there is any company in the world that deserves them it is Amazon.
The workers just learned about vote fraud—up close and personal.
So THAT is what all those Amazon work conditions ‘news’ stories were about.
I should have made the connection sooner!
Parasitism.
I kept seeing ads from Amazon saying that they start out their workers at $15/hr. Now I know why they were advertising that.
The losers will start a systematic campaign of sabotage, frivolous lawsuits and work slow downs.
Guess there was no Norma Rae this time.
Just wait ‘til the newly discovered ‘ballots’ come rolling in.
Really hard to pick a side on this one.
I predict the workers will get screwed either way.
> Having been in a union, I didn’t feel that the union was as interested in the workers as they were in their own well-being. <
I was a union member for all of my working career. Unions were - at one time - absolutely, 100% necessary. But those unions have since morphed into oppressors themselves. I guess it’s the old “Animal Farm” routine.
“Had Bessemer unionized, it likely would’ve sparked similar movements across the country,...”
Left never stops, they reload so better be ready.
And why didn’t the NLRB go After Amazon the way they go after Farms and Auto plants and DEMAND CARD CHECK for this Vote? They do every where else.
Union for a bit. Then I moved and landed (unknowingly) in a right to work state.
If you’re living in a Yankee state you probably are in a union if you’re living in a Southern state the people just go to work and don’t feel the need to pay anybody because everything is just fine thank you...
At least that was my takeaway. I’m no longer in those trades but I didn’t really give a rip about being in the union or not but I didn’t think the union I was associated with really added anything of value... in my experience.
Bessemer? I wonder how many of them had granddaddies who were involved with the Steelworkers Union.
Amazonian suppressed the vote by requiring voter ID and chain-of-custody of ballots.
LOL!
I saw where the union thinks voting can’t be trusted. Oh really....
and the union people crawled away...
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