Amazon workers in Alabama will have third labor union vote after judge finds illegal influence

[Pelican Press 0]

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workers in Alabama will have third labor union vote after judge finds ******** influence

MONTGOMERY, Ala. (AP) —

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workers in Alabama will decide for the third time in three years whether to unionize after a federal judge ruled that the retail giant improperly influenced the most recent vote in which employees rejected a union.

Administrative law judge Michael Silverstein on Tuesday ordered the third vote for

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warehouse workers in Bessemer, Alabama, about 20 miles (32 kilometers) south of Birmingham, after determining that

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committed six violations leading up to the second election in March 2022.

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managers surveilled employees’ union activities and threatened workers with plant closure if they voted with the union, Silverstein said in an 87-page decision.

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managers also removed pro-union materials from areas where anti-union materials were available, the judge determined.

The National Labor Relations Board

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in the

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, leading to the redo in 2022.

Silverstein’s decision comes after months of testimony and is the latest development in a

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, the National Labor Relations Board and

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. Some states,

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, have fined the mega retailer for labor violations.

Both

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and the union that organized the vote in Bessemer said that they would appeal the judge’s order.

The president of the Retail, Wholesale and Department Store Union, Stuart Appelbaum, affirmed the court’s findings that

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broke labor laws.

But he also said that he believed

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was likely to commit similar violations in a third election if the court did not order “significant and meaningful remedies” to protect the vote.

Specifically, the union requested access to private meetings between

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representatives and workers, as well as training for

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supervisors on labor laws. The judge declined those requests.

“The record reveals that there are over a hundred managers at BHM1, but my findings of unfair labor practices are limited to four managers, who each committed isolated unfair labor practice,” the judge ruled, referring to the Bessemer facility.

Appelbaum said that the union would appeal that decision.

“

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must be held accountable, and we’ll be filing accordingly,” Appelbaum said.

Mary Kate Paradis, a spokesperson for

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, said the company vehemently disagreed with the court’s ruling and indicated that there would be an appeal.

“Our team at BHM1 has already made their choice clear, twice that they don’t want a Union. This decision is wrong on the facts and the law,” Paradis said in a statement. “It’s disappointing that the NLRB and RWDSU keep trying to force a third vote instead of accepting the facts and the will of our team members.”

With approximately 6,000 employees, Bessemer in 2021 became the largest U.S. facility to vote on unionization in

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’s over 20-year history. Since then, similar battles have ensued at

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facilities across the country.

Workers in Staten Island, New York,

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, becoming the first

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union in the U.S. But the union has

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amidst legal challenges from the country’s second largest employer.

The bid to unionize in Bessemer in particular was always viewed as an uphill battle: Alabama is one of 27 “right-to-work” states where workers don’t have to pay dues to unions that represent them.

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’s sprawling fulfillment center in Bessemer opened in 2020, right as the COVID-19 pandemic began. The city is more than 70% ******, with about a quarter of its residents living in ********, according to the ******* States Census.

A vote will likely be delayed until after the court hears anticipated appeals from both parties.

___ Riddle is a corps member for the Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative.

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is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

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#

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#workers #Alabama #labor #union #vote #judge #finds #******** #influence

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