Compass Money: Unionization Vote at Amazon Facility Fails

Amazon unionization vote fails, Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union President alleges unfair election practices by Amazon. (Wikimedia)

Amazon workers at a warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama (BHM1 facility) voted resoundingly against joining the Retail, Wholesale, and Department Store Union (RWDSU) on April 9, with 71 percent of workers voting against the unionization effort. Stuart Appelbaum, president of the RWDSU, vowed to challenge the results of the election, accusing Amazon of violating union campaign law. 

Workers who voted against the unionization effort at the BHM1 facility cited Amazon’s $15 minimum wage, immediate healthcare benefits for workers, and doubts that the union would be able to deliver on better working conditions as their chief reasons for voting “no.”  

“I personally didn’t see the need for a union,” said Graham Brooks, a 29-year-old who makes more working for Amazon than he did in his previous job as a reporter. “If I was being treated differently, I may have voted differently.”

Jobs at the BHM1 facility often pay more than other jobs in the area, owing to a minimum wage in Alabama of $7.25 an hour—the federal minimum—which may have also contributed to the “no” vote. 

Proponents of the unionization effort have argued that work at the BHM1 facility is dehumanizing, with workers being under constant scrutiny and experiencing severe pressure to keep up with very fast-paced work. “The pressure to be consistent and perform every single second there is tremendous,” said a former Amazon data science engineer who created tools to measure worker productivity at Amazon warehouses. 

A former Amazon executive argues that this kind of pressure on workers at Amazon warehouses is necessary because Amazon has conditioned its customers to expect swift delivery, and said that unionization efforts, as a result, are “likely the single biggest threat to the business model.” 

Indeed, the fact that a successful unionization effort would likely result in successful unionization efforts at other Amazon facilities was not lost on anyone. While unions exist at Amazon facilities in Europe, Amazon has fought tooth and nail to prevent similar efforts in the United States. 

As a result, progressive politicians in favor of unions have voiced their support for the unionization effort, prompting Amazon to push back against them on Twitter with snarky and aggressive tweets. 

Ahead of the unionization vote at the BHM1 facility, Amazon executives and employees clashed aggressively with pro-unionization advocates and politicians on Twitter. (Twitter)

The RWDSU and other critics, however, assert that Amazon has done a little more than tweet aggressively at Bernie Sanders to fight against the unionization attempt and that some of Amazon’s actions might have been illegal. Concerns center around so-called “captive audience” meetings at the BHM1 facility, in which workers were forced to listen to weekly presentations by an Amazon representative dissuading them from joining the union. 

Amazon workers also report that they feared talking about their pro-unionization positions for fear of losing their job. This fear may have been magnified by Amazon’s attempt to put up cameras to monitor ballot boxes, which was ultimately prevented. 

While this unionization effort failed, pro-union advocates point to unprecedented support from national politicians, including President Joe Biden, and other unionization efforts cropping up across the U.S. to indicate that the fight is far from over.