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Amazon resists mail-in voting. kek
Amazon urging halt to union mail-in vote at Bessemer warehouse
Updated Jan 22, 2021
By Howard Koplowitz | hkoplowitz@al.com
Amazon is calling on the National Labor Relations Board to pause the vote among the company’s Bessemer warehouse workers on whether to unionize, citing “serious and systemic flaws” with the board process for conducting the vote amid the COVID-19 pandemic.
Last week, the board approved conducting a mail-in election among the Bessemer facility’s nearly 6,000 employees on whether to form a union. In a filing Thursday, Amazon argued for a stay in the election.
“This election case presents a perfect storm—multiple gaps in National Labor Relations Board … precedent, acting regional director errors, and missed opportunities for mail-ballot improvements, all with the rights of thousands of employee-voters at stake,” the company’s attorneys wrote. “It cries out for a stay, so that the board can set election matters back on course before ballots are mailed. Otherwise, this case threatens to tie up the board (and a federal court) for years, instead of resulting in a clear and cogent resolution of the issues up front.”
The board is expected to mail out ballots by Feb. 8 and count the votes March 30.
Amazon requested that the board review its decision to hold a mail-in election, arguing the board did not adequately define what a “COVID-19 outbreak” is. The Bessemer employees cited the outbreak in Alabama in support of a mail-in election.
The employees are seeking to become members of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU), saying union membership would provide safer worker conditions, make it harder for Amazon to arbitrarily fire them and provide an avenue to file grievances against write-ups or terminations.
“The RWDSU has always stood against anti-worker and anti-union companies,” reads a website created in support of the Bessemer employees. “Our union will not back down until Amazon is held accountable for these and so many more dangerous labor practices.”
Attorneys representing the Bessemer employees could not be reached for comment.
https://www.al.com/business/2021/01/amazon-urging-halt-to-union-mail-in-vote-at-bessemer-warehouse.html