NEW ORLEANS – An unofficial vote tally shows a push to unionize an Amazon.com Inc. facility in the U.S. state of Alabama losing by more than a 2-to-1 margin. While Friday’s reported results haven’t been finalized and could be challenged, they dealt a bitter blow to the U.S. labor movement’s efforts to reverse decades of sharp declines in the private sector.
At issue was whether 5,800 Amazon workers would join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Voting was done by mail in February and March.
The outcome is seen as having far-reaching implications, not just for workers at the Amazon Fulfillment Center in Bessemer, Alabama, but also for the company as a whole and the growing U.S. e-commerce sector that has fended off most labor organizing.
Amazon hailed the outcome in a blog post, saying workers’ “collective voices were finally heard.” The company added, “Amazon didn’t win – our employees made the choice to vote against joining a union.”
For its part, RWDSU decried the conduct of the election and said it was filing an objection with the National Labor Relations Board, a federal agency that enforces U.S. labor law.
Sharp divisions over whether to unionize
Opinion among Amazon workers was far from uniform. While some decried working conditions, others said they are satisfied…
