NEW YORK--Amazon.com Inc's fierce resistance to unionization, skepticism among workers that organizing could get them a better deal and decisions on election parameters all contributed to the apparently lopsided defeat of a labour drive at the company's warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, people close to the events said.
A vote by workers on whether to unionize failed on Friday by a more than 2-to-1 margin in a major win for the world's largest online retailer. The union plans to challenge the results based on Amazon's conduct during the election.
Union leaders had hoped the campaign just outside Birmingham would create Amazon's first organized workplace in the country and spark a new era of worker activism. Instead, it has illustrated the continued challenges facing the labour movement.
Officials at the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU) argued that Amazon's unfair tactics were to blame in an election where only just over half of eligible workers cast ballots. In a statement, the RWDSU said, "The results of the election should be set aside because conduct by the employer created an atmosphere of confusion, coercion and/or fear of reprisals and thus interfered with the employees' freedom of choice."
Amazon in a blog post denied the outcome resulted from intimidation of its employees. "We've always worked hard to listen to them, take their feedback, make continuous improvements, and invest heavily to offer great pay and benefits in a safe and inclusive workplace," it said.
The e-commerce company campaigned for weeks, plastering the warehouse and even a bathroom stall with anti-union notices, stopping work for mandatory employee meetings on the election, and bombarding staff with text messages criticizing the RWDSU. In one of the messages seen by Reuters, warehouse leadership warned that collective bargaining could result in workers losing benefits - something the union has disputed. "Everything is on the table," the text declared.
And in one of the mandatory meetings, presentations asserted union leaders used membership dues for improper purposes such as expensive cars and vacations, a former employee at the company's warehouse told Reuters. The union did not immediately comment on the claim.
But some warehouse workers pointed to shortcomings in the union drive. Many younger workers, lacking experience with unions and knowledge of labour history, were never persuaded of the benefits of organizing, these people said. Some cited Amazon's above-average wages, and better working conditions overall than other local employers.
Denean Plott, 56, who picked customer orders at the warehouse until March and voted for the union, said, "It is a good paying job. They do have wonderful benefits." And young employees "don't feel they need a union because they’re not putting health and safety at risk as much."
Some cited fear that voting for a union would mean a constant battle with management they would rather avoid.
A group of warehouse dock employees who do heavy lifting were against the unionization effort and appreciated Amazon's current benefits, which include receiving health insurance upon hiring, according to one of the former fulfillment center employees. These dock workers also held skeptical views of unions generally, associating them with corruption, the former employee said.
Union leaders had hoped the election would fuel a revival of worker activism, at a time when only 6.3% of private sector workers belonged to unions in 2020, according to U.S. Labor Department statistics. Private sector union membership declined by 428,000 in 2020 from the year before.
High-profile union organizing drives have failed at factories in the South run by Nissan Motor Co and Volkswagen AG, and aircraft maker Boeing Co. In each of those cases, as at Amazon, union leaders bet that workers unhappy with wages and working conditions would jump at the chance to have a union go toe-to-toe with management. In each case, the unions were wrong.
