Bessemer Amazon Workers To Get Another Union Vote

BESSEMER, AL — Citing improper behavior by Amazon officials, the National Labor Relations Board Monday formally issued a decision and direction of a second election, granting workers at Amazon in Bessemer a new election to unionize.

The NLRB made the decision based on "the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union’s objections to Amazon’s conduct during the union election" conducted in April. That vote resulted in 1,798 votes against unionizing and 738 votes in favor.

Related: Amazon Employees In Bessemer Vote Against Unionization

Amazon is the second-largest private employer in the US, with more than 800,000 employees, and it has successfully resisted previous attempts at worker unionization. Only one other Amazon unionization effort has even made it to a vote — a small group of repair technicians in Delaware in 2014 — and the attempt failed.

Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, accused Amazon in April of interfering with the rights of the Bessemer employees to vote in a free and fair election and immediately filed an appeal to the NLRB when the union vote failed.

"Today’s decision confirms what we were saying all along – that Amazon’s intimidation and interference prevented workers from having a fair say in whether they wanted a union in their workplace – and as the Regional Director has indicated, that is both unacceptable and illegal," Applebaum said in a statement Monday. "Amazon workers deserve to have a voice at work, which can only come from a union."

In August, the hearing officer who presided over the case determined that Amazon violated labor law and recommended that the regional director set aside the results of the election and direct a second election. The date and method of the new election are yet to be determined.

Since February 2020, 37 charges have been filed with the NLRB against Amazon across 20 cities, according to an NBC report. In that same time frame, retail giant Walmart has had just eight charges filed.

Charges against Amazon from employees have included unjust retaliation for protected activity, denial of sick pay, selective enforcement of pandemic-related rules and a variety of unhealthy working conditions.

Amazon responded Monday expressing disappointment in the NLRB's decision to essentially nullify the previous union vote in Bessemer.

"Our employees have always had the choice of whether or not to join a union, and they overwhelmingly chose not to join the RWDSU earlier this year," Amazon spokesperson Kelly Nantel said Monday. "It’s disappointing that the NLRB has now decided that those votes shouldn’t count. As a company, we don’t think unions are the best answer for our employees. Every day we empower people to find ways to improve their jobs, and when they do that we want to make those changes—quickly. That type of continuous improvement is harder to do quickly and nimbly with unions in the middle. The benefits of direct relationships between managers and employees can’t be overstated—these relationships allow every employee’s voice to be heard, not just the voices of a select few. While we’ve made great progress in important areas like pay and safety, we know there are plenty of things that we can keep doing better, both in our fulfillment centers and in our corporate offices, and that's our focus—to work directly with our employees to keep getting better every day."