BAmazon Union: Anticipating the Battle in Bessemer, Alabama

https://labornotes.org/2020/12/bamazon-union-anticipating-battle-bessemer-alabama

December 21, 2020 / Peter Olney and Rand Wilson


Amazon workers in Bessemer, Alabama, filed for a union election on November 20. Photo: Workers at Amazon's Shakopee, Minnesota, fulfillment center walked out in a December 2018 protest. Credit: Fibonacci Blue, CC BY 2.0.

Last Friday, representatives from the Retail Workers (RWDSU) went before the National Labor Relations Board (NLRB), Region 10, seeking a quick union certification election.

The election is to determine whether a majority of the employees at the newly opened Amazon Fulfillment Center (BHM1) in Bessemer—a small of suburb of Birmingham, Alabama—want union representation.

Amazon was represented at the hearing by the law firm Morgan Lewis—a firm that specializes in “union avoidance” strategies. In dispute was the size of the bargaining unit.

The union had petitioned the Labor Board on November 20 with the support of at least 30 percent of a workforce that it calculated at 1,500. Obviously seeking to invalidate the union’s petition, the company countered that the appropriate bargaining unit was more than 5,700! The hearing took evidence from both parties and the hearing officer will decide who is right.

If the hearing officer rules in favor of the union, a quick certification election could be forthcoming. It is far more likely, however, that Amazon will spend its millions on legal actions to thwart a quick election. The company will argue that it is protecting the franchise of thousands of workers from a predatory outside organization.

FULL story at link above.