alt=Jeff ParrottThe American labor movement’s future could be decided later this month as employees of Amazon’s Bessemer, Alabama, fulfillment center vote on whether to unionize.
The nearly 6,000 Amazon employees of Amazon’s Bessemer warehouse — a city ironically named after a 19th-century inventor known for his steelmaking process, an industry with historical union ties — have to decide by March 29 to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, according to The New York Times.
If Bessemer’s workers do vote to join the union, their efforts could inspire employees of Amazon’s more than 800 warehouses — upwards of 500,000 people — to begin similar labor efforts in their own communities, according to the Times.
“Ballots were sent to employees on Feb. 8 and must be completed and received by the National Labor Relations Board by March 29,” reported Voice Of America. The fulfillment center is about 20 miles southwest of Birmingham.
Unions are familiar to America’s factory floors
Although some Amazon locations in Europe have unionized, no Amazon warehouses in America have joined or created unions, according to Axios.
“The warehouses really are, in some sense, tailor-made for organizing,” said ProPublica reporter Alec MacGillis on the Axios “ReCap” podcast. MacGillis is also the author of a new book about “tech-dominated America” and Amazon titled, “Fulfillment: Winning and Losing in One-Click America.” He adds that labor movement in Alabama could be a “huge boost to efforts elsewhere.”
MacGillis said it is harder for gig workers, like Uber drivers, to organize their own labor unions compared to employees who all work in one location. He adds that modern labor movements are difficult because of “low saturation of private sector unions,” which are not as familiar to workers as they were in the first half of the 20th century.
Amazon is selling MacGillis’ book, which published Tuesday, and is labeled a “No. 1 Best Seller” in the retail industry category.
“This is happening in the toughest state, with the toughest company, at the toughest moment,” Rutgers University labor studies professor Janice Fine told The New York Times. “If the union can prevail given those three facts, it will send a message that Amazon is organizable everywhere.”
Amazon is the globe’s fifth largest employer, according to the World Economic Forum, and as of October 2020, had an international workforce of 1.2 million employees.
Axios reported that the former online bookseller-now-digital retail empire made $21 billion in profit in 2020. Amazon says employees earn, on average, more than $15 an hour and have medical, dental and retirement benefits, according to Axios.
“We opened this site in March and since that time have created more than 6,000 full-time jobs in Bessemer, with starting pay of $15.30 per hour, including full health care, vision and dental insurance, 50% 401(k) match (for retirement savings) from the first day on the job,” said Amazon in a statement to Voice Of America. The company said it also provides “safe, innovative, inclusive environments, with training, continuing education, and long-term career growth,” reported VOA.
Bipartisan political support of unions isn’t free of politics
In late February, President Joe Biden, without ever mentioning Amazon, expressed his support for unions in America’s economy in a video posted to Twitter. Biden said the choice to join a union isn’t up to him, nor is it up to an employer.
“The choice to join a union is up to the workers. Full stop,” the president said. “Workers in Alabama, and all across America, are voting on whether to organize a union in their workplace. This is vitally important.”
Biden also said it was campaign promise that his administration would support “unions organizing and the right to collectively bargain.”
Florida Republican Sen. Marco Rubio wrote in a USA Today op-ed last week that he supports Amazon employees efforts to unionize, because — he alleged — Amazon has “waged a war against working-class values.”
“For decades, companies like Amazon have been allies of the left in the culture war, but when their bottom line is threatened they turn to conservatives to save them,” the senator wrote.
“When the conflict is between working Americans and a company whose leadership has decided to wage culture war against working-class values, the choice is easy — I support the workers. And that’s why I stand with those at Amazon’s Bessemer warehouse today,” Rubio wrote.
In a statement published after Rubio’s op-ed, Stuart Appelbaum, president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, said politics shouldn’t be part of the labor discussion.
“We welcome support from all quarters. Sen. Rubio’s support demonstrates that the best way for working people to achieve dignity and respect in the workplace is through unionization,” Appelbaum said. “This should not be a partisan issue.”