ALABAMA AMAZON WAREHOUSE REJECTS UNIONAZATION OVERWHELMINGLY

 

            …This is Amazon’s giant Alabama warehouse that fought-off unionization

 

Amazon had to acknowledge that Amazon drivers often have trouble finding rest rooms.

 

Last Friday, Amazon warehouse workers in Bessemer, Ala., overwhelmingly rejected unionization.  This was a high-profile battle that drew vast political interest.  It included a video from President Biden supporting the organizing efforts without mentioning Amazon by name. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) that was the subject of the union interest has said it intends to challenge the outcome.  They objected to Amazon’s tactics during the campaign. That filing to the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB) could come by this Friday.

Even the Amazon chief executive, Jeff Bezos, acknowledged that the e-commerce giant needs to “do a better job for our employees.”  This was his first comments since the company’s lopsided victory over a unionization effort at the Alabama warehouse last week.

In his letter to shareholders, Bezos, who also owns The Washington Post, wrote that some news reports of employee complaints about a brutal warehouse workplace were inaccurate. He cited internal surveys of warehouse staff that found 94% would recommend Amazon to a friend as a good place to work.

But Bezos also said Amazon needed to commit to improving employee satisfaction as much as the company focuses on providing excellent customer care.

“Despite what we’ve accomplished, it’s clear to me that we need a better vision for our employees’ success,” Bezos wrote this in the letter released last week..

Amazon aggressively battled the unionization effort that could have triggered organizing drives at other Amazon facilities. The union said that more than 1,000 workers had contacted the union during the effort to learn about starting union campaigns at their warehouses.

Even though the union lost the election, the organizing drive “spotlighted Amazon’s shortcomings as an employer.”  RWDSU union President, Stuart Appelbaum, said in his statement about the union’s loss.

“Bezos’s admission today demonstrates that what we have been saying about workplace conditions is correct,” he said. “But his admission won’t change anything, workers need a union, not just another Amazon public relations effort in damage control.”

During the union drives, workers spoke out about: aggressive performance goals, low wages and an overheated workplace.  Amazon pushed back aggressively against critics on Twitter, and at one point combatively rejecting Rep. Mark Pocan’s (D-Wis.) comments suggesting workers routinely urinate in bottles because they can’t take restroom breaks. The company apologized a few days later, acknowledging that drivers, including those who deliver packages for other companies, often have trouble finding restrooms, especially since the pandemic.

When Bezos actually relinquishes his CEO job this summer to become Amazon’s executive chair, he wrote that he intends to include making the company: “Earth’s Best Employer and Earth’s Safest Place to Work” in his initiatives.  He wrote that the company plans to invest more than $300 million this year in safety projects.  He says this includes $66 million to create technology that will help prevent collisions of forklifts and other types of industrial vehicles.

Bezo’s has also announced that Amazon has already ordered 100,000 electric delivery vans from the EV start-up Rivian.  This Michigan based start-up has been the subject of a series of major funding rounds in 2019.

Other major auto manufactures have said that by 2030 / 2035, 50% of their manufacturing will be for electric vehicles.

Amazon’s major purchase of electric delivery vans has been the major focus of the other union auto manufacturers and it was one reason why the RWDSU union went after an Amazon warehouse for unionization.

Copyright G. Ater 2021