Union Election At Amazon Warehouse Set For February 8
Workers at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer are set to vote on unionization beginning February 8.
It will be the online retailer’s first union vote in the U.S. in seven years, and the first election to encompass an entire warehouse of workers, which Amazon refers to as “fulfillment associates.”
Today, Lisa Henderson, the Acting Regional Director for the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) who oversees the Southeast, ordered the vote to be conducted entirely by mail. In her ruling, she cited the presence of COVID-19 both in Amazon’s facility and a 17% positivity rate in the surrounding areas.
Amazon went to great lengths to request an in-person election, including free testing for all participants, a sanitized and isolated hotel floor for election workers, and a digital monitoring tool dubbed “Distance Assistant” to enforce social distancing.
Henderson said the measures were both “creative” and “laudable,” but ultimately unpersuasive. Instead, she relied on precedent from recent NLRB elections that states “the COVID-19 pandemic indisputably warrants mail-ballot elections in appropriate circumstances.”
Approximately 6,000 workers will be eligible to vote, making this the largest union election in the country since the pandemic began. The election is scheduled to last seven weeks, providing enough time to mail, return, and process each ballot.
The decision itself is straightforward. Workers are voting “yes” or “no” on whether they want to be represented by the Retail Workers and Department Store Union. The RWDSU is one of the smaller national unions. It’s headquartered in New York City, but it’s Mid-South Council, based in Birmingham, is one of the largest regional offices.
The union has already tweeted about their excitement for the upcoming vote, while Amazon went live with an anti-union campaign, DoItWithoutDues.com. In multiple statements, Amazon has maintained that the unionization effort “does not represent the majority of our employees’ views.”
Congratulations everyone, we’re thrilled to share we have a date for our #union election to begin. More details are coming soon but we wanted to share this incredible news! #1U #BamazonUnion #UnionStrong pic.twitter.com/T9cEmchmmo
— BAmazonUnion (@BAmazonUnion) January 15, 2021
Workers will have until March 29 to submit their ballots. Baring a request for review or stay, counting is the following day, with the results expected shortly after.
Trump reclaims a Justice Department reshaped in his wake
The rare speech at the Justice Department comes as the Trump administration has spent the last several weeks trying to reconfigure the agency, including demoting attorneys who worked on cases related to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, and firing officials who investigated the president himself.
The NWSL is adopting a tool to protect players from online abuse, commissioner says
NWSL's Jessica Berman says the league is adopting a tool to monitor and protect players from online abuse. The NWSL was scrutinized for not doing more to protect player Barbra Banda from harassment.
Zelenskyy wants U.S. to hit Russia with ‘maximum’ sanctions if it refuses a ceasefire
Ukraine's president said he hopes the U.S. applies "maximum additional sanctions" on Russia if it refuses to accept a 30-day ceasefire, describing the Russian leader's "bravado" as a stalling tactic.
More Norwegian ski jumpers have been suspended due to a major cheating scandal
Team officials are accused of altering athletes' suits to enhance their aerodynamics. The suspension by International Ski and Snowboard Federation (IFS) follows last week's FIS Nordic World Ski Championships.
Senate passes spending bill to avoid a government shutdown
The Senate voted 54 to 46 to approve a spending bill to fund the government through the end of September.
Over 50 universities are under investigation as part of Trump’s anti-DEI crackdown
The schools under scrutiny include dozens of state schools and two Ivy Leagues. A number of private schools are also being targeted, including Georgetown, Rice, Vanderbilt, and New York University.
