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San Francisco: Amazon is heading into the final stretch of a union push in Bessemer, Alabama with a sizeable lead over labour organisers. With nearly half the ballots counted Thursday night, 1,100 warehouse workers had rejected the union while 463 voted in favour of it. The count will resume Friday morning in Birmingham, Alabama, where agents for the National Labour Relations Board are counting each vote by hand. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, which is organizing the Amazon workers in Bessemer, said that 3,215 votes were sent in - about 55 per cent of the nearly 6,000 workers who were eligible to vote. Whichever side secures the majority of the votes will be declared the winner . Stuart Appelbaum, the president of the retail union, struck a grim tone in a statement Thursday night as the initial results rolled in, signalling that the union will put up a legal fight if the vote doesn't go its way. "Our system is broken, Amazon took full advantage of that, … [Read more...] about Vote tilts against Amazon union organisers in Alabama

Senator Bernie Sanders praised the defeated unionization effort at an Amazon warehouse, writing in a Twitter thread that organizers have "inspired workers everywhere." On Friday, Amazon clinched enough votes to beat back a labor drive at its facility in Bessemer, Alabama, which would have established the company's first U.S. union. Sanders had traveled to the warehouse in late March to support union organizers. Nearly 6,000 employees were eligible to vote on whether to join the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Of the ballots cast, 1,798 votes opposed the union and 738 votes were in favor. "I am disappointed but not surprised by the vote," Sanders tweeted. "It is extraordinarily courageous for workers to take on one of the world's wealthiest and most powerful corporations, a company that spent unlimited sums of money to defeat the organizing effort." Amazon thanked its employees for participating in the voting and denied it won by employing … [Read more...] about Bernie Sanders ‘Disappointed but Not Surprised’ by Amazon Vote Against Unionization

Votes were contested as the National Labor Relations Board began the counting process in a unionization effort at an Amazon warehouse in Bessemer, Alabama. The Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union representing Bessemer workers said about 55 percent of the nearly 6,000 workers who were eligible cast a vote. But the union said that Amazon challenged "hundreds" of the votes, mainly on the basis of the voter's work status or eligibility to vote, the Associated Press reported. The margin of victory must be greater than the number of contested votes in order to determine a winner, or the vote will be escalated to a hearing on whether or not to open and count the questioned votes. For more reporting from Newsweek's Scott McDonald, see below. President Joe Biden spoke to workers in America last month who would soon vote on whether to join a union. Though the message was for all of the nation, it was really meant for a faction of Amazon workers in Alabama. "I have long … [Read more...] about Hundreds of Alabama’s Amazon Union Votes Contested as Ballot Counting Begins

Amazon received enough votes against unionization Friday to block the effort in Alabama, which could have been a catalyst for employees to pursue union membership across the country. The vote count against unionization surpassed 1,608, the simple majority needed for the effort to succeed or fail. It came after some big names, including Senator Bernie Sanders and President Joe Biden , lent their support to the effort, which sparked Twitter feuds between the company and those backing the employees looking to unionize. The vote took place by mail over several months because of the coronavirus pandemic, and the public tally, which was broadcast over Zoom, began Thursday. This was the largest effort by Amazon workers in America to unionize, and nearly 6,000 employees were eligible to vote. Counting is still ongoing, so the actual support for and against the movement is still unknown. As of Friday morning, there were 1,798 votes opposing the union and 738 votes in favor. The … [Read more...] about Amazon Workers Reject Union in Win for Jeff Bezos, Blow to Bernie Sanders

Amazon on Friday clinched enough votes to defeat a unionization attempt at one of its Alabama warehouses, defeating the most significant labor drive in the company's history. The majority of Amazon 's workers in Bessemer, Alabama, voted against joining the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union (RWDSU). Of the ballots cast, 1,798 votes opposed the union and 738 votes were in favor. Amazon thanked its employees for participating in the vote in a statement released shortly after it was over, saying that "there's been a lot of noise over the past few months, and we're glad that your collective voices were finally heard." While the company noted that just 16 percent of the fulfillment center's workforce voted in favor of the union, it said it didn't consider the result a victory. "It's easy to predict the union will say that Amazon won this election because we intimidated employees, but that's not true," the statement said. "Our employees heard far more anti-Amazon messages … [Read more...] about Amazon Argues It Didn’t ‘Win’ Union Fight, Its Employees ‘Made the Choice’