MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) Amazon workers in Alabama will decide for the third time in three years whether they will join a union after a federal judge found the retail giant improperly influenced a recent vote in which employees rejected the union.
Administrative Judge Michael Silverstein on Tuesday ordered a third vote for workers at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Birmingham, after he found Amazon committed six violations before a second vote in March 2022 year.
Amazon managers monitored union activity among employees and threatened workers with plant closure if they voted for the union, Silverstein said in the 87-page decision. Amazon managers also removed pro-union materials from locations where anti-union materials were available, the judge ruled.
The National Labor Relations Commission also found improper interference in the first vote in 2021, leading to a repeat vote in 2022.
Silverstein’s decision follows months of evidence and is the latest development in a nationwide legal battle involving Amazon, the National Labor Relations Commission and unions spearheading unionization efforts. Some states, such as California, have fined the major retailer for labor law violations.
Both Amazon and the union that organized the vote in Bessemer said they intend to appeal the judge’s order.
Retail and Department Store Union President Stuart Appelbaum confirmed the court’s findings that Amazon violated labor laws.
He also said he believes Amazon is likely to commit similar violations in the third vote unless the court issues significant and substantial measures to protect the votes.
Specifically, the union requested access to closed meetings between Amazon representatives and workers, as well as training for Amazon executives in the field of labor law. The judge rejected those requests.
The data shows that BHM1 has more than a hundred managers, but my findings of unfair labor practices are limited to four managers, each of whom committed a separate labor practice violation, the judge ruled, referring to the Bessemer facility.
Appelbaum said the union will appeal the decision.
Amazon must be held accountable and we will file the appropriate paperwork,” Appelbaum said.
Mary Kate Paradis, an Amazon spokeswoman, said the company strongly disagrees with the court’s decision and indicated it would appeal.
Our team at BHM1 has already made their decision clear twice that they do not want a union. This decision is wrong as a matter of fact and law,” Paradis said in a statement. We regret that the National Labor Relations Commission and RWDSU continue to attempt a third vote rather than accept the facts and the will of our team members.
With more than 6,000 employees, Bessemer in 2021 became the largest U.S. site to hold a union vote in Amazon’s more than 20-year history. Since then, similar battles have unfolded at Amazon facilities across the country.
Workers in Staten Island, New York, successfully voted to join a union in 2022, becoming Amazon’s first union in the US. However, the union has so far been unable to begin negotiations with Amazon due to legal obstacles from the country’s second-largest employer.
Trying to join a union in Bessemer in particular has always been considered a difficult task: Alabama is one of 27 pro-choice states where workers are not required to pay dues to the unions that represent them.
Amazon’s large fulfillment center in Bessemer opened in 2020 just as the COVID-19 pandemic began. More than 70% of the city’s population is African American, and about a quarter of residents live in poverty, according to the U.S. Census.
The vote will likely be delayed until the court hears expected appeals from both sides.
___ Riedl is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on under-reported issues.
